29 Oct 2022 17:32:22
a massive clearout is needed these players are not good enough,most of us on here know 90 percent of our squad is championship players,emery is going to realise what a job he's in for,its time for our owners to back emery with massive funds because that's what it is going to take
29 Oct 2022 18:26:45
Jonny you and me have been saying this all season and have both been heavily critized, Watkins, Cash, Konsa, Bailey, Luiz Mcginn, Ramsey simply not good enough to compete in the premier league.
29 Oct 2022 18:36:11
cash is a good player scottie just needs coaching,martinez,carlos,cash,bouba,digne are the 5 i'd build my team around mate
29 Oct 2022 19:04:16
I think we need reinforcements in key areas - CB x 1, LW x 1 and Striker as a priority in January. I'm not getting too down about today's result, we will have a few days like this between now and the end of the season, we invested too heavily in Gerrard and sadly his legacy will be felt for a while yet. Emery will be backed in January but I don't think a wholesale restructuring of the squad is needed, player for player Villa are as good (if not better) than Newcastle, the difference between they have a top coach. Villa now have that, he'll improve the current squad and bring in a few faces in January, season starts now.
29 Oct 2022 20:11:51
I don’t rate digne he’s rubbish defensively, decent going forward. Emery will attract better players than gerrard could, jury is still out on kamara we weren’t exactly great before his injury, we need a striker, Watkins needs dropping and give archer a couple of starts he can’t be any worse, I knew today would be a test, I think danks made bad calls with the subs, couthinho not good enough even as a sub he offers nothing but embarrassment, maginn should of came on for Buendia and nakamba in the defensive role, why oh why our coaches can’t see how much better maginn is when he plays further up is beyond me. great first game for danks but he was found out today. can’t wait for Emery to ship these guys into shape, hopefully we sign at least 2 players in January and get rid of couthinho asap.
29 Oct 2022 20:32:43
we need more than 2 in my opinion whack like i said earlier in a post the whole squad and half starting 11 need replacing squad basicly a championship squad,thats been built to keep us up mixed in with past it coutino,and average bailey
29 Oct 2022 21:12:07
Whack, i listen to what you have to say and tend to agree with some of your observations, however, where on earth do you get "at least two" from.
There were at least six players on the pitch at some point today that are championship at best and if any if these were in the shop window in January, there is not a single premier league side that would come a Knockin.
We are bereft of quality players that can control the ball (Watkins prime example) can't defend, Cash, Konsa,Mings, can't pass to a team mate on a regular basis, Luiz, Bailey,Mcginn, Ramsey, Coutinho, Ings, the list goes on.
We are where we are because of the total lack of quality premier league talent in our team, and if people don't agree look at the league table and review the performances against, Newcastle, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Bournemouth, Leeds, Forrest. West Ham.
29 Oct 2022 21:52:27
I hear what your saying Scot, when I say at least 2 I do hope for more but not going to happen in January so 2 would be a start, Newcastle squad last year was rubbish but a few quality additions and good coaching has made them into a very good team this year, it’s not going to happen over night but 2 or 3 of the right type of player should improve those around them, Leicester, West Ham in previous years prime example with a good coach, Brighton and Newcastle doing it this year, none of those teams are full of world class players but good attitude and togetherness helped by top class coaching has them over performing and that’s what we need then we can build on it and attract more world class.
29 Oct 2022 22:35:37
Whack, sensible comments, i just think its more like three or four as a minimum and a coach than get a tune out of average with potential, and that doesn't include Watkins, Bailey, Cash, Konsa, Coutinho, Mcginn
29 Oct 2022 22:43:27
The problem here is not necessarily the quality of the players more around how they are coached and how we play. The likes of McGinn and Cash are internationals, Mings and Watkins have recently been in the England set up and Luiz is part of the Brazil squad. International managers do not pick poor players, the issue is that we don’t know our next XI and we have often asked players to play in positions other than there natural ones for example Luiz and McGinn have been asked to play as holding midfielders or in McGinn’s case wide right which to my mind is mad. I think the new manager needs to determine what formation he wants to play and assess the squads ability to play that way and if he needs to change personnel to play the way he wants then he needs to do it and if that means selling the likes of Luiz, McGinn and Watkins then so be it. Personally looking from the outside I think we need a clinical centre forward, a winger, midfielder and central defender if we can get those through the door we establish our best XI then I think we have every reason to be optimistic.
29 Oct 2022 22:58:50
Almiron looked like a Championship player before this season and now look at him.
If you have the right coaching and players that compliment each other in a system that plays to their strengths then they collectively become better players.
We lost because we lost the physical battle. I strongly believe that Gerrards attempt to play slow keep ball tactics has ruined the fitness of the players as evidenced by us having the lowest running numbers since he walked through the door.
You only have to look at Watkins who was an absolute machine under Smith. Strong, fast and could maintain 100% for the whole match, he now looks like John Terry could keep up with him and is huffing after a couple of sprints.
30 Oct 2022 00:16:02
LOTI, 100% agree, I want to see our players operating under a top quality coach before I judge them fully. Newcastle are a perfect example, 12 months ago they were in a worse position than us, now they are in the top 4. Top coach will improve our current squad, add some quality additions in January and we'll be fine this season.
30 Oct 2022 00:44:05
Agree with loti and rk. On paper our squad is as good as Newcastle's or even slightly better. Joelinton is another player that looked terrible before Howe took over. Emery wouldn't have come if he thought we were a championship team. Nearly all of our squad are international players. One thing is for sure, it'll take a few weeks for Emery to bed in some of his ideas and to make us more consistent. Let's hope we can get 3 points from the next couple of league games and see what we've got for Liverpool on boxing day.
30 Oct 2022 01:13:26
newcastles team is way better than our,how many of our players would get in there side 1 our gk,and that's not being harsh,we won't go dwn but we are going to struggle until wcup starts,thej once window opens we can sign 4/5 players
30 Oct 2022 07:10:10
Jonny, the majority of their players wouldn't be anywhere near our starting eleven at the beginning of last season. Saint Maximan was the only one we were even considering at the time.
Most of those players looked like headless chickens under those 2 whilst we had a team that was showing promise and mixing it with the big boys for large parts of the season.
Yes, we relied on Grealish a lot but the rest of those players had to do a job otherwise his efforts would have meant nothing.
We struggled for a while adjusting to a new philosophy whilst injuries to a fairly small squad hurt us.
We then swapped seats with Newcastle.
They found a coach that fit what they needed at the time. They'll start finding themselves 7-11 regularly until they need someone who can manage the bigger names they'll start to sign.
We sacked our most popular coach for over a decade to go with someone who had 2 of the easiest jobs in football at Liverpool Youth and Rangers (expectation is pressure but resources ease a lot of that).
His lack of knowledge and his arrogance to not even try to learn and let MB manage everything puts him in the same bracket as Bruce (although at least Bruce bothered turning up to the training ground and did a little more than crossing out ketchup on the menu).
30 Oct 2022 08:33:13
Those 2 being Bruce and Benitez, not sure where that paragraph went.
30 Oct 2022 08:46:47
Johnny, I get the game is not played on paper but Villas squad is just as strong (if not stronger) than Newcastle's - Howe has done an apersonng job, he's getting performances out of players that have been poor for a number of seasons (and in Joelinton a laughing stock). This is priority number one for Emery, get the most out of our current squad, he has a few games now to have an impact, then the WC break as a mini pre season, come January we'll see a much improved side I'm sure and he'll 100% be backed to bring in some additions. It looks dire at the moment but look at Newcastle 12 months ago, they are template as to what can be achieved under a good coach with shrewd additions in the market.
30 Oct 2022 13:52:15
Who exactly have Newcastle signed in the last year? Trippier, Bruno guimaris, Sven botman, targett, wood and pope. as far as I know that’s it, targett and wood are bench players, we already have a world class keeper to match pope so realistically they got 3 outfield starters and that has transformed them, I’m hoping kamara is as good as Bruno, Watkins isn’t a patch on Wilson so that’s definitely a position we need to strengthen, ings didn’t get a chance yesterday but he’s proved that given the chances he can put them away, 2 or 3 players won’t get us into Europe but they will get us up to 10th or 11th with Emery at the helm, I’m in agreement with most on here, CB and winger would be my priority and if we were to get a third player in January it would be a big strong tough CM or a top class striker, Emery will know the la liga players inside out and I’m pretty sure that’s where our reinforcements will come from, it’s unrealistic to expect 5 or 6 players in January I just can’t see it happening it’s going to take a few windows to buy and sell our way up the table it would be great if we could do it in January but unless Emery is a magician it’s not going to happen.