21 Jul 2013 19:56:00
My mate lives in France an is convinced villa made an enquiry with regards too Gregory sertic two weeks ago.
Finch
Looks like a pretty solid player, but how attacking is he?
Paul Lambert went after him when he was at Norwich so there could be truth to that. would rather a real attacking midfielder or defensive this guy seems another winger
Kev
You're right kev mate he is a winger that would add nothing at all to our squad. agree we need a real att mid and a big strong commanding def mid.
AVFC 4 LIFE
Put it this way:
Against Luton, only strikers we have fit & available are Drennan & Burke basically. we need another striker!
He often plays in the middle of the park for Bordeaux. Like I said I'm putting up a genuine rumour and putting my name to it.
Finch
Respect Finch.
Not my first choice, so hope this is not likely.
Leroy
I think he should really concentrate on a defensive midfielder to help out the defenders and control the midfield. unless sylla becomes a much better player as pre season looks to be showing. can't figure out the formation for the game against arsenal should be interesting to see our new starting 11
kev
Sylla looked fab against Wycombe! Absolute beast of a player!
Well it looks like Clark or Johnson will be cover for this season unless we sign a dmc. Sylla for me was a big influence on the team last season so ideally would like to see another guy signed up.
As for the arsenal match iv a sneeky suspicion we may play 4-5-1 and flood the midfield. plus wev no fit strikers either!
We have Burke. All our players par N'Zog will be fit for Arsenal.
Benteke is not injured and will be match fir for Arsenal. There is no point signing a new striker just because we have a few minor injuries.
As for starting line up
Guzan
Lawton
Vlaar
Okore
Luna
Bacuna
Westwood
Delph
Weimann
Benteke
Gabby
433
Gabby will be fit, helenius will be fit, bowery will be fit, benteke will be fit, and weimann will probably be fit, so yes we will have strikers. I think all the pre-season injuries are just precautions, better to take them off when they sprain a little finger than to make them play on and risk breaking a wrist. However I still think we should be packing the midfield to some extent, the last time we did that at the emirates we won 2-0!
I think that gardner has to feature in tht midfield. I like westwood but gardner could be the new steven gerrard from what I've seen
kev
We need a new striker because think last year how many injuries Benteke had? None! With Bent also leaving soon enough - I also agree, we need 1 more striker
I'd play gardner more attacking if i'm honest, played cdm, cam and strike for the u21's and look very good going forward. He'll be 3 times better than his brother.
If Benteke is injured we have Helenius and Bowery to come in and if by any chance the three of them are all missing both Gabby and Weimann can fill in the centre forward role with Tonev, Albrighton or N'Zog (presumably still here) coming onto the wing.
We don't need another striker!
We do not need a striker, helenius has replaced bent, gabby and weimann can now play as strikers as we have signed at least one actual winger and bacuna can play there as well. We have 5 first team strikers (if bent leaves) so if we play 4-4-2, only when 4 strikers get injured/suspended at once (highly unlikely) we will have to call upon the u21's. but that's like saying 'lets buy a mansion just in case we win the lottery'. We have less central defenders than we do strikers, why does nobody care about that?
We've got 4 central defenders, how many do you want? With regard to strikers, I would argue we only have 2 viable options (assuming Bent leaves), and one of those, Helenius, is completely unproven. Gabby has proven year after year he is not good enough upfront, wiemann can't play with his back to goal (if lambert wanted strikers who play on the shoulder, he would keep Bent), and Bowery is nowhere near Premier standard yet.
Guzan
Lowton vlaar clarke luna
Sylla westwood
Weimann gardner agbonlahor
Benteke
Steer okere baker herd tonev baccuna helinus
You've lost the plot haven't you? Gabby is a much better player through the middle, he's never a winger. And as for the 'helenius is unproven comment' what would your suggestion be, buy another bent, ireland or given on silly for poor ethic or buy players like benteke, lowton, westwood and sylla who are as you would say 'unproven'. Weimann doesn't need to play with his back to goal if he is next to benteke, we all know benteke would be a target man and is very capable of bringing the hall down an laying it off to players with their fronts to goal and finally as for the bowery remark how do you suggest we get him to prem standard? keep him 5th in the pecking order or sign another striker and make him 6th reducing the chance of playing time. Also my point still stands, we have 4 defenders for at least 2 starting 11 positions, and 5 strikers for a position that might only be available for one player in the starting 11.
Good result boys 2-0 defeat to non-league luton not a single pre-season victory against sides at least 2 divisions below.
Get a grip the side put out in the first 60 minutes was more like the reserves and don't forget all the players rested with knocks are still to come back. Unless you have something constructive to say then shut it.
Yes and who was playing? Donacien, webb, carruthers, burke, johnson, robinson. Why don't you wait until we have played a full strength team and kicked a ball in anger before you judge us. All the young lads where trying to impress and were dancing with it in the box instead of passing as they wanted a goal for themselves, we were just moving the ball round the pitch, getting the running done and learning how to talk to each other. I for one would prefer to lose to lower league teams like luton in pre-season than man united in the premier league. Are you seriously suggesting last nights result had any reflection on the game against arsenal? Will we be starting a nearly conplete second string team? Will we be running at about 25%? Tell me, why would we be rotating the squad, giving everybody time on the pitch, and letting 6/7 of our under 21's play if it meant anything? Seriously you're better off locking yourself in a room until pre-season is over as you're worrying too much. Man city and Manchester United have lost in pre-season too, will they have awful seasons. Honestly mate I don't mean to be rude but you seriously need to relax and wait until we are playing for something important.
I really can't believe we are judging the team on a few pre season games. Did you not see the back four last night? No Vlaar, No Lowton, no Okore. We have a squad currently impacted by 8 niggling injuries.
Lets judge the team shall we are playing meaningful games and when we have a strong first 15/16 available
Stop moaning. No one who contributes to these pages want to see out beloved Villa lose. It was only a pre season friendly. We have a number of significant injuries and six players to blend into a new squad and our star player who hasn't played much since the end of the season. Prer season is about just getting fitness levels up and getting the team to blend. Manchester United have lost two games ore season-does that mean they are falling to bits and will be struggling all year. no it doesnt. Judge us after half a dozen games of the new season and not before. fed up doom mongers on this site. get behind us for once.
I really couldn't care less what are results are in pre-season. as long as the players are training well and getting fit for the arsenal game, the results we get with a weak, rotated team won't have any impact on the season
Seems everybody in this page has the same view on pre-season except this guy that has moaned after every single pre-season game (i pressume its the same person as nobody else can be that negative). Shall we all give him a big group hug for his troubles?
EthAVFC, I agree agbonlahor is no winger, but that doesn't make him a good centre forward (1 goal every 5 games - not good enough). How do I suggest we get Bowery upto to PL standard? He is so far away from PL standard, he shouldn't be learning his trade in our first team! Loan him out seems fairily obvious to me, he ain't going to learn anything being 4, 5 or 6 choice striker in a 1 striker system. This leads me on to my point about Wiemann. I agree entirely that he could play alongside Benteke, but as you say later we are talking about a system that only employs one striker! I don't advocate buying another expensive player, all I am saying is, that if Benteke goes down in the first game, in my view Wiemann, Bowery and Gabby can't cut it up front on their own, so that just leaves us with Helenius, who is unproven. Big risk going into a season on that basis. With regard to CD's, how many other teams have more than 4?
I can assure you if benteke was injured there's a very good chance we'd play two up front, but let's not forget gabby had his best season playing as the striker in a 4-5-1 formation. Forgive me if i'm wrong but you also appear to be saying our all time leading goal scorer doesn't score enough goals? And with regards to CD's I guarentee 15/16 teams in the premier league have more central defenders then they do stikers!
The 12th man and Kentish Villan are the only ones talking semse about the "injury" situation. They were taken off as a precaution, much better to rest first team strikers for friendlies when they have a knock than play them and risk making the injury worse, have some common sense!
Agbonlahor had to play as a winger under Houllier & Lambert has sorted him out by giving him extra room on the flanks to run in. Correct he is no winger, but he is now a lot stronger so can play the #9 sort of role.
Agree with both the above comments. As regards gabby, would we all agree his best game was against norwich last season? The game where benteke went missing and gabby played through the middle for 60 mins. Trust me, gabby would rather be running straight at goal between the two 6ft3 usually really slow centre backs than running towards the corner flags and looking for somebody in the box.