25 Oct 2022 09:51:16
Interesting to hear Conte's view that for Spurs to be able to compete with the top sides he needs a further 3 transfer windows to add the necessary depth to his squad. That means he will have had 5 windows in all which equates to a tenure of 2.5 years. If you take that as a benchmark then in all probability it's going to take Emery about the same length of time to get us into a position where we are challenging for European places. Here's hoping we give him the time.
25 Oct 2022 10:20:54
I think that's fair LOTI, Emery is a serious appointment and I expect him to propel us up the table but to be consistently challenging for Europe will absolutely take 2 years+. The top 6 are locked in and you now have Newcastle squeezing into to make it a top 7 in all likelihood, so Villa in the short term need to be aiming for "best of the rest", this is certainly something to target over the next 24 months until Emery has a squad capable of genuinely challenging those a few spots above. Super exciting appointment, can't wait to see what January brings as he has absolutely been promised funds to strengthen the squad.
25 Oct 2022 19:05:21
Will be interesting to see what transfer business he does BK, just read an article and some of his choices at his previous clubs don’t inspire confidence Pepe to Arsenal for £72 million being the glaring example I hope he and Lange work well together as even though rumour has it that he is being handed a significant transfer budget we can’t afford to waste that kind of money on a distinctly average player.
25 Oct 2022 22:13:35
every manager makes a few bad signings,christ villa have made loads over the years and still do
25 Oct 2022 22:17:59
BK, if it takes 2+ years, how have Newcastle done it? Don't get me wrong I will be happy to be patient, but I don't buy that it's not possible. We are well run and have deep pockets.
26 Oct 2022 00:01:48
Yeah, but to be fair I doubt there were many top clubs and managers who didn't have an eye on Pepe before he signed for Arsenal - I recall it being quite a coup that they convinced him to join at the time, didn't work out but not much did at Arsenal for 10 years or so. The club need much greater alignment from a recruitment perspective though, fully agree, that's Emery and Gerrard who have inherited extremely unbalanced squads, this needs addressing for sure.
26 Oct 2022 07:26:33
56 I get your point re Newcastle and I know in theory our owners have deep pockets but in reality our net spend under the Dean Smith/Steven Gerrard era has been in the region of £150 million over 4 years Newcastle have spent in excess of that in just under a year. One of the good things with appointing Emery now is it gives him a couple of months to assess the squad before going into the January window, for me I think we need at least 4 quality signings, striker, winger, central midfielder and a no nonsense centre back who understands when to play out from the back versus when to boot the ball into row z. I would suggest to get real quality in those positions will cost £150-200 million let’s see if our owners are willing to invest that type of money.
26 Oct 2022 12:07:19
Yeah, 56, LOTI summed it up perfectly - I'd be very surprised if Newcastle maintain a Top 4 push until the end of the season but you're right Howe has that team flying and that's the type of improvement I'd expect to see from Emery. When I say 2 years I mean to consistently challenge, I think there's still a very good chance we can make Top 10 and beyond this season but if Villa want to consistently challenge for Europe it'll take 2 years and some smart investment IMO. Agree with LOTI, if we can add a top Striker, Winger and CB then I think we will be in a very healthy position. I've said it for ages, this Villa squad is very good, we aren't that far away from being a very capable side so if we added (dreaming most likely) Torres, Danjuma and Gakpo to this team for example that would certainly speed things up. Just depends how quickly we can add genuine quality.