Johan Lange Thread | Page 10 | Vital Football

Johan Lange Thread

In one of my Dublin dad's locals in Aston (The Guild on Witton Rd) most Friday nights there were big fights between different regions from Ireland but mainly the Dubs V the Culchies and it was unreal to see loads of local Murphy builders lorries racing to the scene to join in with planks of 4 by 2 to beat the shit out of each other!

My dad said you can always tell a culchie because he walks strangely like he is walking behind a plough in a field and he wasn't joking:rotfl:

Sorry to go off-topic but it brought back such fun memories!

After watching that I have now spent a happy hour or more watching the Villa games that followed on afterwards.
Big Ron looked so happy after that win against Utd in the final.
 
They once did a TV programme on how English is spoken around these islands and for the scene from a Cork pub they used sub titles.
Dad's local was in West Cork and when the Beamish and Murphy's flowed,we needed an interpreter. Tiny village,between Kilmichael and Macroom. One shop,two pubs. Irishmen know their priorities. Pubs were Hickeys and Walshes. Dad was a Hickeys man. I converted a couple of cousins to the Villans. Best share the misery
 
Dad's local was in West Cork and when the Beamish and Murphy's flowed,we needed an interpreter. Tiny village,between Kilmichael and Macroom. One shop,two pubs. Irishmen know their priorities. Pubs were Hickeys and Walshes. Dad was a Hickeys man. I converted a couple of cousins to the Villans. Best share the misery
My other half is from Cork city and one of seven. All brothers and sisters naturally funny but one brother, city man all his life, inexplicably talks like a culchie. When I first met him I was laughing at the thing he'd said two sentences ago as I was having to reverse engineer what he'd said from the words I actually recognised.
 
Smith on recruitment in a Guardian interview today:

“Whatever was speculated before, I was in full agreement with the players brought in with Suso and I will be with Johan as well,” he says. “I felt for Suso last season because it was such a big turnover and I thought we did a fantastic job doing what we did. You’ll never hear a bad word about Suso from me. I really enjoyed working with him. The club decided to go in a different direction and Johan has come in.

“My role [in recruitment] is pretty much the same. As soon as Johan came into the club we sat down and profiled the positions we needed and then it’s a case of me adding some names I liked in those positions. Then it’s down to the recruitment department, headed by Rob and with Johan’s input, to come up with players that (a) fit the profile, (b) fit the personality profile and (c) are actionable. They come up with a list and I sit down with the coaches and decide the best ones.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ing-in-europe-has-to-be-the-aim-jack-grealish
 
Smith on recruitment in a Guardian interview today:

“Whatever was speculated before, I was in full agreement with the players brought in with Suso and I will be with Johan as well,” he says. “I felt for Suso last season because it was such a big turnover and I thought we did a fantastic job doing what we did. You’ll never hear a bad word about Suso from me. I really enjoyed working with him. The club decided to go in a different direction and Johan has come in.

“My role [in recruitment] is pretty much the same. As soon as Johan came into the club we sat down and profiled the positions we needed and then it’s a case of me adding some names I liked in those positions. Then it’s down to the recruitment department, headed by Rob and with Johan’s input, to come up with players that (a) fit the profile, (b) fit the personality profile and (c) are actionable. They come up with a list and I sit down with the coaches and decide the best ones.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ing-in-europe-has-to-be-the-aim-jack-grealish
Unbelievable Jeff - a number of the recruitment people actually agreed that Danny Drinkwater fit the profile of player we were after. Dean Smith is being very loyal, which I respect, but last winter's transfer window was a bit of a shambles - maybe none of the players we actually wanted were "actionable".
 
Unbelievable Jeff - a number of the recruitment people actually agreed that Danny Drinkwater fit the profile of player we were after. Dean Smith is being very loyal, which I respect, but last winter's transfer window was a bit of a shambles - maybe none of the players we actually wanted were "actionable".

Calling a spade a spade Merd I agree it was a complete shambles not just 'a bit'. Samatta fitted the profile in the same way Marv did - they were cheap, could do a job and if the worst happened they'd probably be better than 90% of the players in the same position a league below.

Drinkwater I think was a hail mary and showed our desperation. You lost out all of the positives and it makes sense but once you take into account off-field antics and so on then you see just how terrible a decision it was. We got away with it, we got away with murder. A Black Swan event is the reason we stayed up, there is no way Doug and McGinn would have got to their level if COVID didnt hit.
 
Can we give the St Dean shit a rest? Meaningless drivel that is used to promote a lynch mob.

Like him or loathe him, if he does a good job, Aston Villa do well. If he's poor, he's gone, but it means Villa are in trouble.

Nope, I'm entitled to an opinion, and to express it how I like, to take the piss as I please (within the rules etc).

Sorry if you don't like it then a. maybe don't take it so seriously, b. if it annoys you that much just stick me on ignore.
 
Drinkwater was a fair shout. If he'd clicked then he would have been a valuable addition to our midfield. He didn't. It happens.

Samatta looked OK in the few games he played before lockdown. After lockdown we were playing a different system.
 
I'm not sure it is - I might be wrong.
Ollie and Matt are probably Dean picks, Martinez we just dropped on and we have JT to thank for the other 2. The Danish lad is Lange but it's gone quiet.
 
I'm not sure it is - I might be wrong.
Ollie and Matt are probably Dean picks, Martinez we just dropped on and we have JT to thank for the other 2. The Danish lad is Lange but it's gone quiet.

I think you're right Lange is a figurehead and wouldn't be scouting any of these players for Copenhagen , he's there to manage it thankfully
 
Can someone please tell me what this guy does to earn his money.

I could see him getting the sack in the summer and being blamed for our inability to get a DM. TBH you do have to question how we've been left with just Luis and Marv in an area of the pitch 90% of fans have identified as an issue for well over 2 seasons now.

With that said signing the likes of Ings and now Coutinho and Digne makes me think Purslow overrules him. Similarly, with Gerrard, Lange should be making managerial appointments not Purslow but it feels a lot like Purslow finger prints are all over the club.

@Bonker I believe said it earlier this year that our leadership at the top is a concern. Not being ruthless enough to cut Dean in the summer or even beforehand looks like weak leadership. Grealish going was one thing but its looking like management compounded it.
 
It depends on if all recruitment is down to him or is it a shared responsibility. For example there are players we've signed in his time that I'm almost certain weren't first scouted by him. Watkins and Cash for example are definitely Smith signings.

As for this last year I'm fairly sure that Ings was driven by Purslow, Buendia by Smith and Bailey by Lange. This January. Coutinho, Digne, Chambers Gerrard and Olsen Lange would be my guess.