Current State Of Affairs

New user ex_pro_avfc posted earlier:

I have seen an awful lot of fan reaction lately on various forums and blogs questioning what is going on ‘behind the scenes’ at Villa Park. I can understand a lot of the frustration and can accept the unhappiness and disappointment at the appointment of the manager of our biggest, and most hated, rivals. There has also been the loss of possibly our two most influential players in Ashley Young and Stewart Downing but it’s not all doom and gloom. Is it??

Firstly, the appointment of McCleish. Bold. It was a super-bold move by both Randy and Paul Faulkner and if this goes horribly wrong then both must be aware of the back-lash that they will receive. I agree with the majority that the way the whole saga was handled was very poor and hopefully they have learnt from this. Despite his two relegations with the Blues they must have seen something in him to knowingly risk the wrath of the fans and I pray that they have got it right.

As for our apparent lack of inward transfers – what did people expect? A new man has taken over and he hadn’t even met the players up until 10 days ago and he is meant to have an immediate idea of where we need to strengthen and what the current crop of players are looking to do? I would expect that Alex McCleish has now met with all of the players individually and asked them of what there plans are and also told him of his expectations and plans for the future. I would also expect us to be busy in the transfer market particularly this week as the team fly out to Asia at the end of the week for 9 days.

As for the loss of both Young and Downing….Ashley’s was to be expected as he was approaching the final year of his contract and just like Milner and Barry before we got good money for him. I was a big fan of Ashley Young and what he lacked in consistency he made up for with his excellent work rate. I really hope he does exceptionally well at United and goes on to win a lot of medals (just hope he has a couple of shockers against us!) Downing was probably a little bit different with regards to circumstance. With two years left on his current deal I bet the temptation was there to do a ‘Barry’ and hold on to him for one more year. It’s so hard when a player wants to leave nowadays though and once again the money we received was more than his true value. Personally, I would have liked to have seen some loyalty considering the club took a huge gamble when he signed for the club. He was picking up a good salary whilst the club nurtured him back to fitness so to demand to leave was a little bit of a kick in the teeth.

On the incoming side of things Given is a done deal and probably the best of the realistic targets we could have had ended up signing. Just hope he can recapture his form of 2-3 years ago and that the operations he has had on his shoulders are all behind him. I still feel we need to bring in another keeper as a #2 though. Andy Marshall hasn’t played a competitive game in years and watching Guzan on loan at Hull I wasn’t entirely filled with optimism. Why on earth we didn’t give Brad Friedel a two year deal is beyond me? They could have tied him to a contract and still signed a new keeper!

The defence is possibly the position that worries me the most and will need some attention. It looks like Cuellar is going, much to my annoyance. I have seen every single game he has played for us and yes, he hits the odd ball astray, but his positional sense and actual defending be it at RB or CB is top notch. I feel he has been hard done by and at £2m Rangers have got a bargain.

At RB we currently have Beye, Luke Young and Eric Lichaj as options. Kyle Walker was incredible for us last season and the chances of getting him back are slim/none even if McCleish did want to go there. I would still be happy with Young as he seems to be finding his consistency of the season before last. Lichaj has potential and will probably be okay as a second choice. As for Beye…bye bye. Just ship him out on a free and save his wages for someone else.

CB options – Dunne, Collins, Clark. Dunne and Collins need to find the form that they had in the MON days – both defensively and offensively. Clark will be adequate cover at both CB and LB and I really do like the look of him. I still think we could bring in another 2 centre backs to at least put pressure on the ‘comfortable’ Dunne and Collins. Can’t believe we ever let Cahill leave!! As for targets Chris Samba from Blackburn could do a job and our scouts must surely have found someone in Europe by now??

LB options – Warnock, Baker, Clark. If Warnock wants to knuckle down and recapture his best form then no worries here. Clark can do a job and Baker has potential.

MR – Albrighton. Will be a big season for the lad as surely now the position will be his own. He is the best crosser of the ball at the club even when Downing and Young were there. Young was too inconsistent when it came to crossing. How many times did he overhit a corner to the far post and put a freekick about 20 yards over the bar. Albrighton has potential now he just has to show it. We obviously need more in this department. If we are looking at spending £10m on Nzogbia then we should offer the same for Taraabt from QPR. Other options are possibly SWP, Matt Jarvis or a cheeky bid for Clint Dempsey from Fulham? Once again we need to look abroad.

CB – Petrov, Makoun, Ireland, Delph, Bannan. More than strong enough. I just hope Ireland can find his feet. Petrov does what he does, Makoun and Delph need to prove their worth this season. Fabian Delph has it all just needs a run in the team. Bannan, for me, is surely going to have a bright future. He has an eye for a pass and ghosts in to great positions – given a chance and played in the right position (possibly just off a forward) he could be massive for us.

LM – erm….Nzogbia looks like the chosen one. Decent enough I just worry about his personality and how he would affect the dressing room. I would also look at bring in Chung Yong Lee from Bolton. He would be equally adept on the right or left and is vastly underrated.

If Tommy Hitzlsperger is still available on a free I would bring him in to. Be great to see him back at the club as a squad player.

Strikers – Bent is great just hope he continues to get the service he needs (Ireland – Albrighton looking at you two here!).
Gabby needs to go back to basics and not stuck on the wing. Put him up front help him build his confidence and the goals will flow. Keep it simple and just use his pace and strength and the goals will come. Delfouneso – BIG season. He needs a chance and needs to show he is not another Luke or Stefan Moore. Emile should be moved on. He lost his head as well as his (inconsistent) form. If Wellbeck or, preferably, Sturridge are allowed out on loan again then we should definitely show some interest. I know McLeish is a big fan of Pavluchenko and to be fair I don’t think he would be a bad signing and could offer something different.

I don’t think it will be all doom and gloom but with an awful lot of hard work I’m sure top 6 will be the target again.

Just give McLeish the chance and hopefully we can show some stability and not have to ‘enjoy’ the season like we did last year……

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