Aston Villa 2019/20

FootballHQ

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Guess who's back.

I was actually wondering what the etiquette was on here, is it always fan of a club that starts their own individual thread or is it started by anyone who takes interest in the club? I was patiently waiting for us signing Marvellous Nakamba today to tip @Yagami over the edge and basically proclaim us as champions league certainties already. ;)

Anyway this reddit preview of us has greatly amused me.


The next team I'm going to preview is one of the new boys, Aston Villa

Team Background:

All is right in the world, as Aston Villa, one of the most well-known clubs in English football, is back where they belong after defeating Frank Lampard's Derby County in the playoff final (and as a bonus, get to meet his Chelsea side this season).

Manager Dean Smith has taken the necessary steps to ensure that their stay lasts more than one season, as he made 9 new signings to strengthen his squad.

Villa fans will be excited to see their team return to the top flight, hoping to erase the memories of the last time they were there. so expect them to stay up quite comfortably.

Starting Eleven (Formation: 4-1-4-1)

GK: Lovre Kalinic

RB: Ahmed Elmohamady

CB: Bjorn Engels

CB: Ezri Konsa

LB: Tyrone Mings

CDM: Douglas Luiz

LM: Trezeguet

CM: John McGinn

CM: Birkir Bjarnason

RM: Anwar El Ghazi

ST: Wesley Moraes

Bench:

Orjan Nyland

Matt Targett

Kourtney Hause

James Chester

Jack Grealish

Conor Hourihane

Jota

Jonathan Kodjia


Just to confirm, Kalinic lasted started a game in Mid February (we're still more than likely to sign another keeper), the imperious Mings played every game for us as a CB and captain Grealish benched for Birkir Bjarnsson.:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

He does somehow predict us to still finish 12th with that line up, actually two places higher than I think we'll end up with a far stronger one.....

Anyway big strength is midfield. I think Grealish and McGinn will step up fine and would say Douglas Luiz will be starting DM so hopefully he shows form that makes Pep want to involve him for Man. City.

We need another striker but Wesley has been looking good in pre season, holding it up well and scored a couple. Jota has probably been our best player in pre season so I think he'll be starting at Spurs.

Weakness will likely be at left back which is a jinxed position since Freddie Bouma broke his leg in July 2018.

Since then we've had "greats" of the game in that position such as Nicky Shorey, Stephen Warnock, Joe Bennett, Antonio Luna and Aly Cissokho in that position. Signed Matt Targett for 12m but I'm not really sure as he couldn't get in a poor Southampton team for last two seasons and the alternative is Neil Taylor....:nervous:

In other news club has sold 30k season tickets already and indeed first home game against Bournemouth only has a couple of hundred tickets left. Going to be regular 40k crowds this year so in a totally different place compared to the awful last few years of the Randy Lerner era.

As I've said above would be more than happy with 14th place finish playing decent football and being comfortably away from bottom 3, probably similar to how Newcastle played last two seasons after being promoted from the championship.
 

pcaming

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Is this another case of a club coming up and spending a lot on crap, or have they actually done good business.
 

FootballHQ

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https://talksport.com/football/577298/aston-villa-fulham-spending-summer/

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...stakes-fulham-summer-transfer-window-signings

(This article is bang on).

https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/20...final-time-aston-villa-are-not-doing-a-fulham

Basically the press line this summer seeing newly promoted club spend 100m +.

I'd say the difference between us and Fulham is that the Cottagers already had some decent players in the positions they spend heavily in (Bettenilli was decent keeper but they got in two Spanish ones). Tom Cairney was fantastic attacking midfielder in championship so Fulham signed loads more midfielders. They could've played Sessegnon at left back but signed two new ones instead.

The day after the play off final we lost Tammy, Axel Tuanzebe, El Ghazi and Mings. We signed two of them permenantly but the other two obviously will be getting chances at their clubs this season. We also released Glen Whelan and Adomah who were regulars in our run in. So coming up with 5 regular players who just about scraped into the championship play offs simply meant we had to sign 9-10 to get a competitive enough squad which we now have.

Whether they'll be good enough in the key positions I can't really predicted. I think back to 2015 when we signed Gana, Veretout and Amavi. All have gone onto have good careers after leaving us but still played in our worst ever premier league team.
 

NoPace

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Whether they'll be good enough in the key positions I can't really predicted. I think back to 2015 when we signed Gana, Veretout and Amavi. All have gone onto have good careers after leaving us but still played in our worst ever premier league team.
I wouldn't really worry about this. Amavi got hurt or you would have had a better left side going forward, Gana did play well but has improved a bit and Veretout I definitely remember looking a below average Prem midfielder for Villa, but that's not a crime as he was 22, and now he's 25 and apparently a much improved player.

Looking at your squad, lots of center backs and a lack of wingers I'd expect to produce (though with Jota I'm basing that on numbers and people do rate him, and Trezeguet plays with lots of energy at least), if things go absolutely terribly I wonder if your manager (or his replacement) will consider 3 at the back, with Grealish as a 10 behind Wesley and whoever his best partner is, and McGinn and Douglas in midfield. Targett's a fine crosser, too.
 

FootballHQ

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Got bored this morning and decided to sign another player, Tom Heaton for 9m.

Very happy with that, he's a very good organiser of back 4s which is what we need with so many new defenders. Burnley stats with him in goal compared to Joe Hart were incredible last season.
 

SilentWitness

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@FootballHQ

How many do you reckon will start for you this season? I know you've signed people like Mings who played for you last season in the Champ but are you not worried about so many signings after seeing how that completely fecked Fulham up last year? I'd be slightly nervous due to that.
 

The Cat

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Best of luck, certainly not a club I have any ill feeling towards but it's gonna be a hell of a struggle.
 

Nialinho

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If they slowly integrate their new signings and don't throw them all in at once I think they'll do just fine. They've spent their money a lot better than Fulham did. Tom Heaton is a hell of signing and I'm actually backing Jota to be a shrewd bit of business. They're such a big club I've always quite liked so I hope they do well! Grealish will be being talked about as a £50-£70M player by the end of the year, mark my words.
 

MsNuno

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Heaton is an excellent signing. Seems a bit more planned recruitment than Fulham. Though not much PL experience in the team but should have more than enough quality to stay up. Hopefully the board will have patience with smith and not be too trigger happy after a few bad results.
 

SoCross

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A lot rests on that Brazilian lad upfront. He will get the service though if Grealish fires. Glad to have Villa back!
 

Dec9003

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Why did Burnley let Heaton go? Madness
 

FootballHQ

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@FootballHQ

How many do you reckon will start for you this season? I know you've signed people like Mings who played for you last season in the Champ but are you not worried about so many signings after seeing how that completely fecked Fulham up last year? I'd be slightly nervous due to that.
We simply had to get players in. Of the 18 that was involved in play off final we had on loan: Axel, Mings, Tammy Abraham and El Ghazi. On the bench we had Whelan and Jedinak. We released both and also Adomah who started the final a week afterwards.

Simply fact is a week or so after that game 7 of the 18 were no longer our players. If we were just relying on existing players and squad players like Lansbury and Bjarnsson we'd go down with 17 points again like in 15/16.

Time will tell if we've overspent or overstocked on certain areas which is something Fulham certainly did. Despite all our business so far I'd still like to get another striker in. Our forward options are Wesley, Kodjia and Kienan Davis so not a huge amount of goal threat there. We'll be relying on midfield to chip in with goals.
 

FootballHQ

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Why did Burnley let Heaton go? Madness
One year left on his deal and chance for his last payday. He's been a good servant for them and as said by Duffer, you have Nick Pope who more than proved himself as a good number one the other season. Overall good deal for both parties I think.
 

Adam-Utd

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You know that bastard Heaton is going to act like Brad Friedel reincarnate don't you?

He already gave me the hump with Burnley.
 

diarm

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They're just after signing a fella called Marvelous.

Can't really ask for much more than that.
 

SilentWitness

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We simply had to get players in. Of the 18 that was involved in play off final we had on loan: Axel, Mings, Tammy Abraham and El Ghazi. On the bench we had Whelan and Jedinak. We released both and also Adomah who started the final a week afterwards.

Simply fact is a week or so after that game 7 of the 18 were no longer our players. If we were just relying on existing players and squad players like Lansbury and Bjarnsson we'd go down with 17 points again like in 15/16.

Time will tell if we've overspent or overstocked on certain areas which is something Fulham certainly did. Despite all our business so far I'd still like to get another striker in. Our forward options are Wesley, Kodjia and Kienan Davis so not a huge amount of goal threat there. We'll be relying on midfield to chip in with goals.
Thanks for the response. That does make sense. Good that you managed to get Mings and El Ghazi back. Abraham could be a big loss this season so you are really going to be relying on the players like Wesley to come in and make an immediate impact. I reckon you're going to be battling relegation but if you managed to stay up this year your strategy has set you up well for the future in the league and you have something good to build from.
 

GlastonSpur

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So what's the starting line-up for Villa likely to be for the Spurs match on Saturday? @FootballHQ
 

FootballHQ

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Heaton

Gulibert
Engels
Mings
Matt Targett

Hourihane
McGinn
Grealish

Jota
Wesley
El Ghazi

Can't see it being anything else than that. El Ghazi went off injured last week but don't think it's serious. If he is out then Trezeguet will get a premier league debut.
 

charlenefan

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I have no idea how they lost to Bournemouth? I've seen them twice now this season and both times they've been nothing short of excellent. Solid defensively and exciting going forward
 

Woodenlung

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John McGinn is very good. Has settled in the Premier League very quickly. Is a tireless runner and gas a great eye for a pass.
 

SilentWitness

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I have no idea how they lost to Bournemouth? I've seen them twice now this season and both times they've been nothing short of excellent. Solid defensively and exciting going forward
Eh? We've opened them up quite a lot, it's only our poor finishing which is at fault. Digne has had a mini football pitch to himself on the left.
 

FootballHQ

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Delighted with tonight. Would've signed up for a point before kick off but very happy with how we played. Thought this was a bad time to play Everton but must admit I was happy to see likes of Calvert-Lewin and Schnderlein still starting, can understand Silva not wanting to throw the new boys in from the start.

I thought we were comfortable without being comfortable if you get my drift, thought it was only last 10 minutes I was really worried by Everton as we were getting nervous and they missed two good chances from the Arsenal old boys.

Think Bjorn Engels is going to be scouted by bigger clubs before too long, saw him in pre season and was really impressed and he's continued that into the first three games, good passer, calm under pressure and can read the game no problem.
 

bond19821982

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Was impressed by villa's right side.

Jota, Right back ( don't remember his name), McGinn was brilliant today.
 

FootballHQ

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@SilentWitness Btw someone on our forum linked to one of your forums (think it might've been WSAG) yesterday and we were all surprised by the bile that was being directed our way. Of course it's the Internet and you can't take it all seriously but people were still having hang ups about Ashley Young scoring that famous winner at Goodison. :lol:

We had some terrific battles in the Moyes-Mon days and the view from our side is both are pretty similar as clubs.
 

Big Ben Foster

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Delighted with tonight. Would've signed up for a point before kick off but very happy with how we played. Thought this was a bad time to play Everton but must admit I was happy to see likes of Calvert-Lewin and Schnderlein still starting, can understand Silva not wanting to throw the new boys in from the start.

I thought we were comfortable without being comfortable if you get my drift, thought it was only last 10 minutes I was really worried by Everton as we were getting nervous and they missed two good chances from the Arsenal old boys.

Think Bjorn Engels is going to be scouted by bigger clubs before too long, saw him in pre season and was really impressed and he's continued that into the first three games, good passer, calm under pressure and can read the game no problem.
Deserves top marx for his performance tonight