I am back.

The Premier League season is back.

A menacing mental concoction of hope and expectation is back.

Before all of that though I would like to quickly convey my delight at being asked by Matt to contribute to Aston Villa Life again after a period in the wilderness. A writing sabbatical which quickly developed into a long stay. I trust all the old readers and commenters are well and for the ones that I have yet to ‘meet’ I sure look forward to making your cyber acquaintance over the coming weeks and months.

And now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. The real reason as to why we all choose to congregate here. Aston Villa Football Club.

A roller-coaster summer it has most certainly been. We’ve seen our talismanic forward depart for the read half of Merseyside for a whopping £32.5m and a very solid and energetic midfield maestro of a snake slither his way up the M6 in a cut-price move that had more twists and turns to it than a Cha Cha Slide/Ketchup Song/Cheeky Song mash-up.

For as much as I can move on from the Delph departure – he’ll have his comeuppance served up to him on the 8th November – it’s the Benteke one that cuts deep from an on-the-pitch perspective. It was well documented last term the difficulties we faced in hitting a piece of leather in between our opponents 8x24ft frame and when you consider that the big man notched 36% of our league goals over the past three seasons then those are some boots to fill right there.

Having accomplished his main goal of Premier League survival when he came in Sherwood has quickly set about his first transfer window with the club by saying cheerio to much of the dead wood. Wasting little time the gaffer turned to France, of all the places, to build a team of his making.

But when you’ve witnessed the likes of Didier Agathe, Mathieu Berson and Aly Cissokho and then the supposed ‘flair players’ such as David Ginola, Robert Pires and Charles N’Zogbia don the famous claret and blue jersey over the years it will be unsurprising to read that I dislike the French a lot more than your average Brit. One hopes that this fresh batch are polar opposite to the aforementioned names.

Jordan Amavi is the one that has stood out for me in pre-season. But being well accustomed to our status as a club where to make your mark before moving onto pastures greener; is it terrible of me to already be thinking about where he’ll be in two or three years?

I’ve heard a lot about this Veretout kid and so he was greeted with warmth. I still have my own reservations about the arrival of Rudy Gestede. One cannot argue with his goal scoring stats over the past couple of seasons, albeit in the Championship, but I distinctly remember my first glimpse of this fella when he was at Cardiff City – a televised game – and he just looked uncomfortably out of his depth back then. I’ll always give players a chance and he’ll be no different.

Despite our woes in front of goal my biggest worry going into this campaign is our central defence. Micah Richards seemed like a decent acquisition on paper but he’s looked less than convincing at times throughout pre-season. When you consider the stalwarts Villa have had, the likes of McGrath, Mellberg, Laursen and most recently Ron Vlaar it’s unnerving for a supporter to question this department. We must see some consistency from Okore this year too.

With the quality that we possess creative-wise in the likes of a rejuvenated Carles Gil as well as Sinclair, Grealish, Veretout and Ayew then our forwards whether it be Gabby, Kozak, Gestede or possibly still Adebayor should receive the necessary service to acquire plenty of shots and headers at goal. In theory this should make for some entertaining football at Villa Park (for a change).

Before VP though we will be heading to Bournemouth this weekend. I couldn’t think of a worse place than Dean Court for our opening fixture. The fear of the unknown. I sure hope Tim has his team Prepared and what with three points on the board this time next week I’ll be writing with a little less apprehension.

Up the Villa!

Comments 114

  1. we just have to wait and see there is nothing in the world that could be worse than the cup final display think then Tim had made up his mind to ship them all out even the beast as he was worse than crap i am looking forward to this season more than the last 5 that’s for sure

  2. it will get time to get going,, the team has to gel and the new signings have to get used to premiership football
    but there is a lot of talent in the squad and we should improve as the season progresses

    my only concerns are at right back, i think we have enough elsewhere to be ok

    and goals should come from throughout the team rather than the departed benteke

  3. Hello Ryan, glad to see your contributory skills are present!

    Well, as to the “unknown” of Dean Court, I’m not sure whether it will fuss the Villa players – half of whom will have *never* before played in the Prem, and so it’s going to be a bit unknown all round! We’ll soon see.

    Central defence? I am happy with Ciaran Clark and I’d also be reasonably happy with Okore, but he’s now injured until September. But Richards seems to want to play there as well. I feel he should grow into the role and am opti about he and Clark doing well, depending on how their understanding develops.

    Anyhow I’ll be quite happy with us winning matches 3-2 and 4-3 and drawing our matches 2-2, 3-3!

  4. We go into this season as an unknown quantity, we have recruited numbers from France who have never played at this level or weight of expectancy , they could be great or implode, we will have to wait and see but they will have to hit the deck running.
    My main concerns are the defence, as Hutton and Bacuna are poor fullbacks, and the centre halves have been all over the shop leaking goals like a sieve during pre season, personally I prefer Richards at RB but he seems to have an agreement to play at CB. Behind them I don’t think Guzan will give them confidence and I’m sure if possible Sherwood would sell him and bring someone better in( Bunn is a strange signing and surely a no2). Up front we will mis Tekkers goals, these will have to be spread out and the midfield will have to chip in, as I have little faith in either Gabby or Kozak. It’s gonna be a roller coaster and not dull let’s hope we avoid another relegation scrap and bring some more new faces in( RB/St/GK)

  5. Hey, Ryan….Nice to see you back. Enjoyed the read.

    Bournemouth are going to be up for their first-ever Premier League game. Would like to say we’d easily take all three points, and of course we probably should (well, you’d like to think so, anyway) but at this stage, I’m not sure if the players know each others’ names yet. At least Richards and Clark both speak English. That has to be a plus.

  6. Nice read Ryan! I can’t think of a worse game to start the season. I went to the ground the season before last and it is so small and quite intimidating for the away team. I really don’t feel confident about this game. Strangely though I am feeling confident about our first home game against Man U. I don’t they will do well at the start of the season and hopefully we will be more gelled by then.

  7. Hi Ryan ,
    nice to see you here, do not think I have come across you before.

    Always good to welcome a contributor who can express himself and lay out his thoughts logically.

    Well of the Lambert’s recruits, we still have Westwood, who continues to impress TS, and stake his place on the team sheet. Guzan, brought back, and still with us, Bacuna, Sinclair, Gil, Richardson,Joe Cole, Sendeross,Sanchez, Kozack and Cissokho, which is probably a reasonable number out of the total hopefuls. of these, at least six still remain in TS’s plans.,

    Now from TS, we have Bunn, Gueye, Amavi, Ayew, Veretout, Gestede, Crespo, Richards and Adebayor, most of whom are unknown quantities, with the exception of Richards, who on Saturday showed some great touches, and could be one of our best signings in a long while. The rest of the boys showed some good potential, and once they start to bed in could really make a difference.

    It really will be interesting to see who has impressed Tim the most by the end of the week and who will fit in his initial selection for Saturday’s game, but I feel he will go back to the tried and tested with the defense, with Sinclair and Kozack up front, with Gestede on the bench ready to use in the second half if we do not have a good enough start.

  8. Hi Ryan thanks for the post

    I think Gestede could well turn out to be a huge asset. He may be raw compared to Tekkers but I think he is his superior in the Air. Not just in headers on goal (19 scored in 2 seasons) but in the accuracy of his knock ons and surprisingly lay offs. He has often played in midfield for Blackburn for this reason in a Fellani type role. My only concern is the reaction of referees when he flattens defenders as he connects with the ball, I hope they see it favourably. That said his disciplinary record is better than Tekkers and you would hope he’s less volatile or more cute. His ability is very hard to defend against, can we supply him?

    Gil and grealish are seen as no10’s these days but with a midfield potentially of vertout westwood and Gueye could they end up either side of the centre forward be that Kosak, Ayew or gestede……..?

  9. One other thing, most of our buys have been the pick of their teams, the stand-outs, rated highly in the league they are in and you cannot do any more than that as a player. Lets not forget tekkers has been bought not for the 30 goals he didn’t score for a lower placed team but for the potential, same goes for Delph. Those two themselves were bought by us for the very same reasons.

  10. Hello, Ryan.
    Thanks for writing for us.

    All these new players make for an interesting start to the season, don’t they? I’m glad it’s not more of the same in terms of players, just hope it’s not more of the same in terms of results.

    VLV!

  11. Everyone’s main concern seems to be how will we replace Bentekes goals? well we scored 12 before TS got here and hopefully he will be the difference and not the loss of a striker. Lets face it Tekkers was pretty poor and got no service before Timbo arrived and the habit of staying in our half until February didn’t help. We have just bought a good few players with scoring records and good assists records, add to that Gil, Grealish and Sinclair who never got anywhere near a full season under either manager and I can’t see us having a problem scoring. Our set piece plays should be more potent with Richards, ayew, Amavi,sinclair,Gestede, Veretout, clarke all can score goals with their heads.
    I think we will get goals

  12. Liverpool are ‘furious’ with Aston Villa after the midlands club tried to hijack their pursuit of Barcelona winger Adama Traore, say Metro.

    Traore, 19, is understood to be heading to England to discuss terms with a Premier League club.

    Metro claim that side is Liverpool, who are less than impressed that Villa have emerged as rivals for the player’s signature.

    Stoke are also keen on the player but the Mail report Villa are close to agreeing a loan deal for the ace.

  13. Gabby club captain 🙁

    Mark

    Yeah Stoke have impressed me under Hughes, just signed a real madrid player too!

    Shows how far we have fallen when we are playing catch up to stoke bloody city

  14. Welcome back Ryan

    The last time I was looking forward to the start of the season it was Lambert’s second. We had just come off a great run to save ourselves towards the end of the season, the players looked to have gelled and it looked so promising for the youngsters who had grown into their roles. Fast forward a couple months and Lambert abandoned his youth policies and messed with the strategies and we started sliding down the table and limped to safety.

    This season is very different due to the introduction of so many new players and throws up so many more questions. It really is up in the air but the majority are optimistic of the potential of this Villa team. I think we can surprise a lot of people, we just need to hit the ground running. Starting with a win against the new boys then a win (surely it has to happen at some point!) at home against Utd. We will be in good shape.

  15. Ree,

    Yep, like you I was very opti after the run-in at the end of Lambert’s first season … and especially so after the first match of the next season at the Gunners. What went wrong after that must surely be down to poor motivational skills from the man.

    This time we have a different manager altogether … but a lot of questions! We have to wait and see what does transpire, but I’d advise not to expect an immediate success. If we start with a well-played draw I’d be happy.

  16. If our last friendly was any guide we should give bournemouth a good game. Forest drew with swansea and we really should of won if we’d kept a defence on the pitch. While not totally dominant as forest hit the woodwork we were not a million miles away.

  17. We have nothing to fear from the Bournemouth game. We are the established (albeit precarious the last 5 seasons) premiership side. Sure we have a load on newcomers but we still have plenty with experience. They will be more nervous than us. Start well and dont give them the chance to settle. By all accounts they are a good footballing side, and gave us a match in the cup. A small pitch may actually work in our favour with Sherwood’s high intensity game. We should be looking to win that game…. but we all remember how often Villa slip up and become that team the newcomers beat to get their first win in the prem. Stoke and Southampton spring to mind.

  18. Wasnt it gils first goal? If I remember right bournemouth changed a lot of players. Still we still had lambert then worth a 2 goal start for them.

  19. Fraid we dont have too much to look forward to…. for the next 1000 yrs at least!

    Some guy simulated Football Manager on the PC for 1000 years and looked at the results. Villa managed just 1 FA Cup win and 2 League Cup wins in 1000yrs! No where near the title, not even runners up or 3rd. By contrast Small Heath came second twice, won the FA Cup 8 times and the League Cup 11 times…. haha

    Also the Baggies managed to win the league twice, FA Cup once, League Cup 3 times… and the Champions League once……

    Side note, Chelsea only managed to win the league once in the next 1000 yrs so at least thats a positive.

    Not so much to look forward to as a Villa fan….1000 yrs of hurt!

    https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/3fioa1/the_millenial_sim_is_here_1000_years_of_simming/

  20. They did rest players Mark and the first half they were pretty competitive from what I remember. Gil’s wondergoal separated us then a nice move finished by Weiman. Itll be a much different game this time.

  21. looking forward to sat first match but at same time disappointed sherwood has not spent a bit more lerner hasnt dug into his pockets very far and at this rate the last 5 years we only havenet spend 25/30m
    hoping new players can gel quickly but we need keeper right back maybe a centre half plus out and out winger
    team for season
    assuming he goes 433

    guzan still hoping we can get new one in
    hutton same as above
    amavi hope he last longer than last 5
    clark hope he carries on last season form but cuts out silly bookings
    richards hope he can stay fit
    sanchez show the player that played copa america
    gueye african players not had great record villa park hope he can change that
    veretout
    sinclair
    grealish
    gestede

    subs
    okore
    crespo
    bacuna
    westwood
    ayew
    ga
    kozak

    rest of squad
    baker richardson cole gabbygillooking light i think yet

  22. James if you go by that arsenal are in the negative for 5 year net spend I wouldn’t worry about that. We have been reducing costs for all that time.

    You’ve got 2 players from the cup final in your team Isn’t that mind blowing?

  23. There’ll be a few of our players who’ll need to reassess their ability to stay fit for a reasonable amount of time. If they can’t stay fit, and it happens every year, they’ll need to find something less demanding elsewhere. Everyone’s a loser when they’re constantly unavailable through injury.

  24. Well who would have thought it, Adebayor is a money grabbing lazy cunt, I mean no one could have seen that coming 😉
    At £100k pw I never wanted him, too much of a disruptive influence in the dressing room. Especially as when the going gets tough he just sits on his fat arse counting his cash whilst wearing the most moody clobber I’ve ever seen( and I’ve seen some of these AVL rascals on a night out).
    The only problem is we are now a couple of days away from the league campaign and we look short in key areas, I think TS has had his pants pulled down ove his persuit of EA, it’s dragged on too long. We need to bite the bullet and go get a proven striker to assist Gestede, a RB or CB and a GK, obviously this won’t happen by the Bournemouth game, but it could still happen ( in parts)for the mancs the following Friday . I still think we will struggle even though we have recruited numbers across the park due to our disorganised defence, dodgy keeper and lack of goals.

  25. Welcome back Ryan – I think you have been away as long as I have been here. I live in Thailand so I tend to catch the start of posts or end up scrolling down many to get to the latest/
    You’ve generated some comment here and I am looking forward to Saturday night at 2100.

    Is it me or is the type faint now on this site? I’ve just migrated to Windows 8 on a new PC but all the other sites seem the same as on Windows 7. Still got the need to refresh after logging on that I was not alone on.

    UTV

  26. Thanks Mark – I have 8.1 already and have looked at the free upgrade offer and find it is available for Windows 7 systems as well until 29-07-2016.
    I am just checking that my UK tv and sports channels will work on Windows 10 before I upgrade as there is time for the servers to be upgraded by then and I don’t want to miss the EPL, Rugby WC, the Vuelta and loads of other stuff. Streaming via Livesport is a reasonable alternative.
    I’m going to watch the video of Alvarez now – cheers

  27. understandable Clive for what its worth I have no problem streaming stuff on Chrome and opera on win 10 but the AV site doesn’t like the new win 10 browser for vids. fine for you.tube etc and its much improved to explorer. the operating system is way better though no obvious probs with anything that ran on 8 or 7 for me.

  28. Mark – you could just buy a magic 8 ball!

    ‘Will Villa get relegated this year?’ ‘8 Ball says… YES’

    I feel better about Gestede now the Adebayor deal has fallen through. The strikers we have need to be all given a chance. Also like the article you linked by that Cardiff city fan. A never give up attitude is always appreciated… although you need ability too.

    Im hoping the fact that we havent designated the number 10 shirt means we have someone in the pipeline in an attacking mid/winger mould. I thought Ayew was gonna ask for the number 10? Surprised Grealish didnt take it tbh.

  29. Ree 8 ball?
    I think gestede ia at the right club with the right manager. Maybe cardiff didnt play to his strengths and maybe they couldn’t cross a road.

    Just to show miracles can happen england have dismissed the aussies for 60 in the 4th test day 1 .
    We were supposed to lose 5 nil according to those in the know.

  30. Magic 8 ball is an American thing, its like a version of a crystal ball. You ask it questions, shake it and it answers you.

    Think Sinclair took 9 when he came on loan so just stuck with it I guess. Still think he’s better as a second striker and should be used up there more often. Always seems to end up in those positions – great when you need someone to finish chances, bad when you need someone back on defense.

  31. Ree I think I’ve seen enough from Sinclair recently to say Amavi was the missing piece for him. When Richardson first played there and was fit Sinclair made clever runs especially as the defence was pushing out and looked good, he just needs that through ball as he’s looking for it constantly, he’s no winger as you say. Also someone reliable behind him as Amavi seems to be. Delph was too one man band for Sinclair IMO Gueye much less so. I can see grealish, Gil and Vertout picking out his runs this season. 4 goals in 11 appearances don’t forget could end up our best buy

  32. I rate Sinclair’s ability, really I do, but theres something missing. He just doesnt seem to have that drive or determination to go out there and really show what he’s about. Just looks like he’s comfortable doing what he’s doing, theres no hunger to get to the next level. If he pushed himself he could be in contention for an England call up. As it is he’s just happy playing some football and playing the odd good game.

  33. Lennon. No bloody thank you. That for me will undo the good work hopefully done in the market. Waste of money. Might as well give me the 5MILL. I can bloody cross better. Gestede would have a bloody long time waiting in the box for a header. crepe

  34. Would love rondon mark…..beast of a player.

    Need to spend some of randys money to make me confident of staying up. Im getting nervous. A top striker and defender would make me confident

  35. Mark – upgraded to 10 and it is as good as you say, my expattv and 365sport players both work so I’m all set up for Saturday night. The type on this site is still faint

    Rondon looks good – we have been linked with a few South American defenders recently.

  36. Im getting worried.

    We are going to start with bunn in goal who no offence to the guy not a prem keeper and gestede up top instead of tekkers who has only played in championship. Im hoping crespo, amavi, ayeuw should be better than hutton, cissokho and weimann.

    Vertout, gueye and gested have some going to match delph, cleves, and tekkers.

    Forgot richards who hopefully will play more than vlaar.

    We need to add to the quality of the squad and not just leave it as replacing the ones who left else i believe it will be another relegation fight.

    Learner get your wallet out. The minium i want is a cb, cam or winger, striker. Id want a gk and rb too but dont think will happen. This could be the differnce to easily getting mid table

  37. Clive excellent mate I really think they’ve done a good job this time 🙂
    the type is down to Matts end? its the same on mine you can try adjusting the contrast but that may interfere with your vid quality.

    Andrew- we have already got 9 new players and 10 out and counting. I think TS is still in the market for players so be patient, in fact patients will be required until Jan I reckon unless TS is a miracle worker.

  38. Mark: “in fact patients will be required until Jan I reckon ”

    Cor bloomin’ ‘eck … are you saying that we’re goin’ to have such a rocky ride in the next few months that A & E will be the only recourse? 😉

  39. Clive/Mark,

    Am very interested in your foray into Win/10. I usually wait a good length of time before I give a new windows system a try but your comments give me heart. It’ll have to wait until we’ve moved house, though and as I’m on a sound Win/7 platform there’s no cause to rush.

  40. Hello Ryan,
    A most enjoyable read on the eve of our first game so good to see you back !
    Ade has disappointed – and his desire to commute every day from London shows his commitment is 50 per cent if that . Hopeless – next time get the residency condition on the table first thing as he’s taken up a load if time and energy for nothing .

    I was surprised to read this from Benteke – particularly the slight on Tim Sherwood “my return to form had nothing to do with him” comment .
    Seems we are not looking at Townsend and Lennon – and Garry Gardener may be loaned to Forrest .
    Tim has chosen his captains – Micah Richards ( good choice ) and Gabby for off pitch to help the new lads settle in a new role as “club captain “.
    Can’t wait for tomorrow – optimistic for a win as always and to see our new players perform .

  41. I feel the same about the latest spurs / Sherwood reunions . If they were first choice for players and Manager they’d have happened already – second choice because Ade’s antics smacks of desperation on both parts – the unwanted and the let down .

  42. JL yes I believe there will be several coronarys before Christmas 😉 I had no problems with win7 win 8,8.1, and now 10 on the same intel system that I built 3 years ago, not having gone the 8 route you will find 10 similar enough to 7 just quicker.

  43. Jen – maybe a bit of nerves on tekkers part. His injuries definitely didn’t help but neither did sulking, being off side, standing still. He must of recovered from the injury he got during the last 3 games, must of been practically hospitalised during the cup final 😉

  44. I want a job in the media, the amount of pundits predicting us to go down is a joke. Last season we were certain to drop then suddenly they couldn’t believe what they were seeing, some even predicted we would beat arse in the cup. To me it just goes to show how little these lot know about teams and players outside of the top 6 and chumps league.

    Apparently the loss of Vlaar who managed 18 game in the league last season is going to sink us and he was arguably are worst player in the last 3 games giving goals away galore (probably injured).

    The loss of Tekkers who was poor for most of the season or injured but got 13 goals in 28 . His loss of form probably caused most of our problems as he was our eggs in one basket player whom we relied on too much. This year we have bought a basket full of eggs and are still looking for more. Whether they turn out turkeys is another thing.

    Arguably Delph is the biggest miss played 23 and scored no goals in the league yet we stayed up, miracle.

    None of the pundits seem to think the additions we have added will come good?? where will the goals come from? Gestede 22, Ayew 13 both in unfancied sides there’s more than we scored all season.

    Add grealish the player the media were purring about, Gil, Kosak, sinclair
    and two very capable players in vertoute and Gueye 11 goals between them and Amavi a real left back!!! who chips in with goals even Gabby got 6.
    We may be crap, we may sink like a stone but I very much doubt it. What I’ve seen pre-season was not rubbish against tough championship teams, for a bunch of players who hardly know each other we created plenty and scored a few, yes the defence was dodgy at times but the same players were not on the pitch for more than a half, hardly time to judge anything.

    UTV

  45. I don’t think there will be any problem eclipsing Cleverly and Delph, Cleverly was ineffective most of the season and Delph was a headless chicken diving into challenges, not scoring but probably the covered the most ground and did his best to drive Villa forward. Neither contributed goals.

    The problem and we all know is bedding down a team who haven’t been together much but it also brings it advantage in that our opposition wouldn’t have time to prepare for our new style of play and new personnel beyond youtube videos.

    Big potential banana skin day tomorrow but confident of a victory.

    UTV

  46. Here we go again

    i read the tekkers interview and i actually think the lad is just being honest and i kind of view football in the way he expresses

    i don’t think we should be too hard on him as he did save us from going down a number of times – he also is too good a player to be staying with a relegation team and the lack of ambition would not inspire any player with a high skill level to stay – would it ?

    well of we go into the great unknown with practically a new side and even the most optimistic of us must see that it could easily go horribly wrong . but we hope we will start positivly

    hopefully a few more buys – the 3 spurs boys and a centre back would make us much stronger and much more balanced

    hopefully the steamers and frem will be back as the season kicks in – its the first time in years we havent had frems running comentry on the ins and outs of the transfer market

    VTID -COYVB

  47. Mark – agree with your comments about the loss (?) of Vlaar and Delph – one or two men do not make a team and we seem to have bought into a collective rather than a prima-donna-ship.

    Runtings – I agree Beneteke was entitled to feel the way he expressed but it does show a lack of moral fibre to showcase it in the press.

    John – stick with Windows 7 for a while and let the updates and service packs develop – 10 is an improvement on 8 and 8.1 which was forced on me by buying a new pc; I have no gripes about it though but it is a new system compared with XP and 7

  48. i don’t agree that tekkers is any less of a man for giving his honest opinion in terms of his career — it just sticks in the throat as it doesnt exactly leave villa in a good light – and will upset some of our fans — but he seems to be being compleatly truthful –

  49. Runtingz- Benteke is honest in how he see’s things but Tim hasn’t been the only person who has pointed out he needs a service. Half of the Liverpool fans said the same but Tekkers isn’t pointing at them.

    I think he will do just fine and he’s entitled to his opinion but to say TS had no hand at all in him coming back to form?? if Lambert had stayed what was the chance of him getting to 10 goals? probably wouldn’t have seen the ball again.

  50. Clive,

    Thanks for those calm words. “If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it” is probably the appropriate adage, but I will clearly have to move ‘up’ sometime in the next few months.

  51. Mark,

    What got to me a little bit is CB having moved to a “big club”. I can understand what he is saying in that ‘Pool clearly have more money to throw around and have not been down in the depths, but despite having done that they’ve not really achieved a lot these past 10 years (compared to their earlier record), so are they really such a big club? Perhaps they may show us what for this season.

    CB clearly didn’t see that Villa are a “big club” but waiting to break open their shell! 🙂

  52. Mark – i actually think teks was right in that he had lost his form after a big injury and we all knew what he was capable of so i agree with him it was just a matter of time for him to start scoring again

    JL on the big club thing – i have had this debate with my footy loving friends and although i agrue that the likes of chelski are just a shed club we all came to the conclusion that the meaning of a big club these days revolves around spending power and ambition

    in the time tekkers was at villa we acted more like a newly promoted club just happy to survive rather than a big club
    in the same time pool finshed 2nd and always top six and have spent over 300mil in the pursuit of success— this is the new markings of what is a big club rather than long gone history -at least in the eyes of players and pundits

  53. JL- CB isn’t wrong in the short term, liverpoo are trying to win the league or make chumps league and have funds to throw at it due to there recent world standing. We are certainly in the league but not in that league yet. 1 maybe 2 good seasons without success he will be off no doubt and fair play to him if he scores the goals.

  54. runtingz- I said as much last season as he wasn’t moving much but then most our are players never ventured past the half way unlike under ts no man is a team on is own

  55. I just hope we dont resort to lumping the ball forward to Gestede. End of last season we seemed to of got lazy and did hit tekkers long too early. Fair enough use the big guy but dont forget to play.

  56. agree Mark no player is bigger than the club – teks played in a pretty poor set up with us – when teks plays for his country he has shown he can play football on the ground and i think he will be proving a lot of bid dippers wrong unfortunatly — agree if a real big club comes in for him he will be off like a flash

    as for brenda rodgers – i don’t rate him as i used to as he has brought more duds than lambert having 20 times the amount of cash to work with

  57. Andrew- most of our players are from a league that plays with more patience so the lumping it up will be fairly alien to them you’d hope and to be fair we have refrained from that pre-season.

    Lets be honest now and ask ourselves other than tekkers and delph and possibly cleverly are we really going to miss any of the players that have left? and more importantly do the new players look more accomplished Players? on the whole I’d say they are.

    Then we should also ask ourselves that considering how poor we have been we still survived in this league, why are we thinking these players won’t be good enough for at least survival?

  58. Andrew don’t thing Crespo will be anywhere near the team nowhere near up to pace mate. you may pretty close with that team but I think he will play Bakuna and its a toss up between Kosak and Gestede. I also have the feeling Gabby could start.

  59. mark i would hope the new lads will fire us into the top 8 – but do any of us really know what we will get

    if we got lennon , ade and townsend to add to the collection i would think we would be more convienced as trhey are proven at this level already

    fingers crossed we will be dynamic and exciting but we just don’;t know till these lads get stuck into the new season

  60. Mark

    It’s just that i have no idea who these players are….never heard of them! Take Vertout, is meant to be exciting prospect but it appears only villa and lester in for him!!

    Im not going to judge though until i see them play and give them some time……cant afford to take too long though.

    Goals wins games and im just worried theres not enough in our team.

    West Brom are to sign that Rondan for 15mill. Really worrys me we are behind other clubs.

  61. I think the Benteke comments show that he and Sherwood had a falling out just before he left. Sherwood knows he can play football, he was just trying to put Liverpool off and it backfired on him. Thought Benteke was disparaging towards Villa when he said, at a ‘big’ club the pressures are different… Course the pressure of a relegation battle is far from the pressure of a CL battle but are Villa not a big club? Would Benteke be where he’s at if not for the Villa? It just shows the mentality of foreign imports, they really dont have a connection to the club even if they say they do. And why should they tbh? Its just a job at the end of the day. The fans need to understand the way it is before they start hero worshipping. No doubt if Real Madrid came in for Benteke, Liverpool wouldnt be such a big club anymore.

    Also found it laughable when he tried to put his goalscoring form on his fitness. He didnt return to full fitness for 5 months since his return? No… Sherwood changed the way we played and put more emphasis on playing to Benteke strengths. Benteke flourished, and got his big move. If Lambert stayed and we stayed up (big if there!) and Benteke only scored a few more would Liverpool or any big club still be in for him? Think he has shown a lack of appreciation on both parts.

    Rondon would have made a good like for like replacement for Benteke, although I dont think he is AS good, still could score plenty of goals. The Baggies have had a bid of £15m accepted and he’s looking as if he’ll go there… unbelieveable.

  62. Andrew maybe its just me but when I look at most players bought from Europe I’m thinking who??? christ I struggle with some of the prem players all I care about is beating them.

  63. Why do other teams buys always look so much better? Its our own insecurities coming out, might as well back our own unknown prospects as lust after other teams.
    I don’t think anyone has bought a better Full back than Amavi, very cole like for me.

  64. On the Lescott – Clarke thing, I feel like we should have bought Lescott when he was on a free even if he was on big wages. Much better signing that Senderos, he would have been the rock we could depend on… plus he’s a Villa fan! Now it doesnt make sense to pay a fee plus the wages. Wouldnt be totally against it if we got rid of Senderos.

    Clarke to the baggies is a joke! They tried their luck as his contract was running down but theres no way we would have let him leave on the cheap. Rondon would be a really good signing for them, if they dont sign him or any decent players before the window shuts, Id fancy them to struggle. Doubt they will go down, Pulis always finds a way. But you can only hope!

  65. At he moment west brom have lambert, berhinho and rondon! Goals seem to be there.

    TS states he is ok with kozac, gabby, gestede and aywuw. Not convinced theres enough goals there.

  66. Andrew for me its all about if we create enough chances, if we do they will score. All of them, even Gabby at times, look like good finishers. Im looking forward to seeing Ayew play, been a while since we’ve had a proper dribbling forward. Maybe since Vassell? Looks to be able to create opportunities too.

    With Amavi and Bacuna we have attacking fullbacks who can deliver a ball. The onus on creating will be on the midfield though, esp Grealish, Gil, Veretout and Sinclair. For me we need to add one more there. Nzogbia can do a job at times but we need someone long term.

  67. Mark – I don’t doubt that CB can see quicker progress at Liverpool, and that he’s given Villa 3 seasons is probably enough in his eyes.

    But as Runtings and you have intimated it would seem for “big club” the meaning these days is to do with the amount of loot that can be thrown at purchases.

    I see that Liverpool have thrown around a lot of dough in recent years, but it hasn’t helped them, has it? Will this season’s expenditure make it any different for them, well we’ll find out, but what strikes me is that CB’s definition of “big club” may well be illusory given Pool’s recent purchasing record.

    Now, if Arsenal or Chelsea had come in for CB then he might have been on better ground, but it’s interesting they didn’t (come in for him). I think that’s really why Sherwood was somewhat dismissive of Pool’s interest … he doesn’t take them as being of the same business calibre as Chelsea/Arsenal.

    Anyway, CB has gone, and good luck to him. I hope that he does get somewhere with them, but maybe it won’t be as much as he hopes.

  68. Where are the goals going to come from…?

    I just checked on who our leading career scorers are, and after Gabby next up is Ciaran Clark with 8!

    We do have a lot of newbies, don’t we?! Still, Kozak and Sinclair (at the very least) will get in front of Clark this season.

  69. JL It is fair to say only one of our recent goal scorers benteke has gone, Bent was never played much, weimann fizzled out, lowton with 2? Vlaar 2 in 3 years, delph 8 in 5 seasons. Don’t think we will miss them terribly.

  70. JL Liverpoo wont be playing for survival either and at least they are trying to get there. no they are not quite at the top table but neither were manure recently, its tight at the top with 4 places at least now the Uefa cup gives you a route to chumps league, which will probably mean one of the big boys will miss out, shame

  71. JL someone likened big clubs like ours to old institutions and the new money corporations, and that my friend pretty much sums it up. they have all the money while we are having a raffle to fix the roof 😉

  72. Watch the above interview, at the end Tim is asked about Bentekes interview claiming he said not go to Liverpool, Tim said “he must of dreamt that one” with a wry smile.

  73. Players that left, we won’t miss in the end, apart from Benteke. If anyone is to be believed, Amavi was very good business, and I think Gueye and Veretout probably have every bit what Delph and/or Cleverly had. And remember how long it took us to see Delph’s best.

    Goals? I think they’ll be there, and I don’t think TS is done trying to find someone else up front. We could be off to an understandably slow start, but I think we’ll be just fine in the end. We’ll have more fight, more strength, more fitness and more technical ability.

    I could always be wrong, of course, but I think the team has shifted toward one that will be much more physically compatible with the PL, and not so lightweight. The back line will figure each other out soon enough, and the linkages up the middle should be an upgrade. From what little I saw of Veretout, for example, he looks every bit as attacking as Delph, every bit as composed, just as fast if not faster, just as good if not better on the ball, he also looks to get in the box and impose himself.

  74. absolutely JC, its been a pleasure to watch the composure of gueye, plays with his head up and is quick and tenacious and a better tackler than anything we have got

  75. pullis failed to rule out Joleon Lescott leaving in his presser saying anything is possible. I reckon 2 years at the club he supports will bring him here

  76. Wouldn’t mind an old head like Lescott. I don’t want to see Clark suffer, as he’s shown that he might well have more than I thought he did. He’s figuring things out, and still brings plenty of bite and commitment.

    Anyway, it’s goodnight from way out west…all the best to you all, the away support, and here’s to our lads finding a way to get off to a good start.

  77. Here we go….

    First day of the new season……

    Let us hope it starts with a Villa win….!!!!!!

    Time for the old boys to show their metal, and the new boys to show their skills and creativity….and the blend to produce the right result..

    UTV……..VTID

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