As of today - what is the nucleus of the side to start in August

H

holtelower

Vital Football Hero
Well, thats it then.

The likes of Johnstone, Terry, Onomah and co are no longer Villa players.

The likes of Chester and Grealish are almost certainly going to be sold (I would expect Chester to go to a Cardiff type, and Grealish to go to a Leicester type club).

So of the players who we have left - who do you think we need to work with, and where do you think we need to strenghen
 
Bunn
Bree
De Laet - only due to nobody wanting him
Hogan - same as above
McFatty - same as above
RHM

rest of team from the U23's
 
New Goalie (doesn't worry me, I can list dozens equal to Johnstone who are available - from Hennessey to Myhill)

RB - Bree
CB - Tuanzebe (I think we will keep him for another year)
CB - New (How much would it take to get Baker back ?) or maybe Elphick
LB - Mitch Clark

LW - Green
CM - O'Hare
CM - Bjarnsson
RW - Here is a name......... Gil !!!!!

CF - Davis (where has he gone ?)
CF - Kodjia (who we will keep just coz of his injury)

And then, bring in your RHM's, Sulliman and JDH's of this world gradually from bench. If he can stay fit, I think Lyden is a first choice player, but thats a big if

But above all, who-ever the players are - play with bloody pace and intent !
 
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Well Fullford and HL. You better hope those are not what we have to go with because they are relegation fodder sides.

Kodjia will stay. No one knows if he is going to get back to what he was. No club will risk it. Grealish will stay. A good half a season in the championship does not make him a dead cert to be signed. Plus his loyalty (There I said it-player loyalty!). Means he will be here for one more crack in my humble.
 
Steer will be goalkeeper imho. He did well in the cup games and deserves a chance. Anyway Bunn's contract is up and I am sure he is leaving.
 
You see, Melon, thats what annoys me - why are the relegation fodder - coz they are young ?

As someone said on the Wembley thread - would we have played a 16 year old Sessignon ?.

If Dele Alli had of chose Villa instead of Spurs that day - where do you think he would be now ?

What do you want to do - we went and spunked the best part of 80 million on a team of "championship ready" players - Lansbury, Hourihane, Hogan, Kodjia, Whelan, Adomah etc, ... - did that work.

At the end of 2017 - a young kid came into our side, and gave the BEST debut I have ever seen. He then played 20 odd straight games, and apart from one or two appearances, did a bloody good job for us, never let us down, and was the focal point of a huge upturn of results.

WHat happens - since January, there has been more sightings of the Loch Ness Monster - whilst we have continually put in the likes of Hogan who is clearly not good enough.
 
I really do see us hanging around the lower reaches next season.

It will be the most horrible season in years.
 
I did write in the Wembley thread - the first bit of business I would do is sell our most sale-able and valuable asset - Grealish, for as much as we can ring out of someone, and go and replace him with Tom Lawrence - same player, better, cheaper, similar age, Derby clearly need to sell
 
Sill - C'est la vie - its going to happen, nowt we can do about it.

Unfortunately, thats what happens when you play shit or bust, and you get bust. I fully understand why Bruce did it- I agreed with it, but the plan didn't work, and we are going to just have to take the hit now.
 
Gollini will be back at villa next season have flopped on his long term loan spell in Italy. Might be able to get rid of him but will only be for a very small fee. I wonder if it would be worth trying to get the best out of him?
 
holtelower said:
You see, Melon, thats what annoys me - why are the relegation fodder - coz they are young ?

As someone said on the Wembley thread - would we have played a 16 year old Sessignon ?.

If Dele Alli had of chose Villa instead of Spurs that day - where do you think he would be now ?

What do you want to do - we went and spunked the best part of 80 million on a team of "championship ready" players - Lansbury, Hourihane, Hogan, Kodjia, Whelan, Adomah etc, ... - did that work.

At the end of 2017 - a young kid came into our side, and gave the BEST debut I have ever seen. He then played 20 odd straight games, and apart from one or two appearances, did a bloody good job for us, never let us down, and was the focal point of a huge upturn of results.

WHat happens - since January, there has been more sightings of the Loch Ness Monster - whilst we have continually put in the likes of Hogan who is clearly not good enough.
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Agree we should be building a team around young players but there is a difference between 3 or 4 younger players and an entire team of youngsters. This was the season we should have been bringing them into the side for experience but now we might have to start relying on completely inexperienced youngsters next season

I do agree about Davis I don’t know why he was suddenly bombed out? Maybe he has attitude problems or was thinking he is better than he is. I’d certainly have in on the bench as he’s a different type of striker to others and has certainly had more of an impact than Hogan.
 
Yes - agree

I think what-ever our future holds, and even the fact this season was not a success, Terry and Snodgrass were brought in to do the job of turning the attitude of this club around as much off the pitch as on it.

They have done their job admirably, and they will both go down fondly in my memory. Maybe we will see Terry back sooner rather than later standing in the dug out - who knows.

But if they / or someone who knows them does read these types of sites - thank you both for all you did. Maybe we didn't get the success short term, but you have laid the foundation to turn this club around. Without your help, we may have been playing Sunderland next season
 
I think Steer could finally get his run as number 1 but if not then as holtelower said there's normally a few experienced keepers let go by premier league sides we could pick up.

As for the defence I think Bree should be given his chance as a starter. He's done well whenever he's been given a shot in the last few months. I'd love us to be able to keep Chester but I doubt it'll happen. I remember reading somewhere that Tuanzabe would re join whatever division we ended up in. If Hutton can be persuaded to stay for less than what he's on now then keep him. Mitch Clark and Suliman will both have to step up and be important squad players.

Midfield is the trickery one. Despite holtelowers Jack vendetta I think he's staying which thank god gives us something to build around. I'd keep Jedinak. Make JDH a squad player. O'hare needs to be around the 1st team as well. Bjanarsson I'd keep should he want to stay. Hourihane, Lansbury and Whelan can all go. Adomah I'm unsure of. Andre Green will probably be a starter.

Up front I don't think Kodjia will stay. I think there will be plenty of teams in Europe who will reckon they can get him on the cheap after a season on injuries. Hogan I like but honestly I just don't think he's good enough. We're going to have a tough time offloading him and god knows where McCormack goes. Davis will get his chance again, he really should have been on the bench instead of Hogan these last few months. RHM will also get his chance. We'll need at least 1 new striker though.

Steer, Clark, Suliman, Chester (hopefully), Hutton (hopefully), Tuanzabe, Bree, JDH, Jedinak, Jack, Thor, O'Hare, Green, Davis, RHM. That's the nucleus of a potentially decent team with the right manager.
 
Kodjia will stay, he’s been out too long this season and hasn’t impressed enough on his return for anyone better than us to decide to take a chance on him.
 
holtelower said:
You see, Melon, thats what annoys me - why are the relegation fodder - coz they are young ?
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In a word -Yes.

Complete fantasy to make a team of inexperienced youngsters and throw them into the championship. If we have to then that's different. But like David said there HAS to be a mix.
 
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