13 Mar 2021 17:34:00
I'm all for giving new player and managers a long run before making up my mind on them, and tbf Sanson hasn't yet had anywhere near that time, but what I will say is that so far I'm very disappointed in him. He made 1 nice, short run yesterday, but bar that he always seems to slow down or stop our own attacks and instead pass sideways or backwards. Could be a confidence thing, but he seems clueless when in possession. He was a bit fortunate not to concede a penalty yesterday too. What role did we bring him in to do? Confusing so far.
13 Mar 2021 18:08:46
I find that very unfair Dave, his performance yesterday was no worse than any of the other midfielders who, with the exception of Ramsey, have played countless times, and don’t have the excuse of adjusting to Premier League football.
Sanson has stepped in to a side bang out of form, which definitely isn’t going to make it any easier for him either.
He’s a player easing his way into Villa’s way of playing, which isn’t the same way Marseille play. I seem to remember Douglas Luiz wasn’t that great for many more games than Sanson has played so far, did you expect him to be an instant IniestaðŸ˜.
I feel sure that in time he will prove to be a very good acquisition.
13 Mar 2021 19:17:18
I agree with you to a point Dave. He’s had 2 bookings for stupid needless fouls, and yes I would of been screaming for a pen had his challenge in our box yesterday been the other way round. I think the majority of his sub appearances have been very “‘meh†so to speak.
With that being said, he was very very good against Wolves, and I don’t think it was a coincidence that when he was subbed with injury, the tide completely turned and Wolves took over. As a central midfielder, often you are the heart of the team and the play, so when he’s coming off the bench he has to adjust to the tempo and rhythm of the game in order to settle and then look to make a difference from there. Against Wolves, being on from the start, I think he dictated the tempo in that midfield battle and kept it to his strengths. I can’t see why he was dropped tbh, because “not fit to start†isn’t really a valid point to me because if your fit enough to come off the bench then your fit enough to start.
Mark raised a good point about Luiz, given time he’s a completely different player to the one we saw before the C.V. break of last season. So I think time is needed, but also starts are needed aswell. McGinn was probably our best midfielder yesterday, but he wasn’t as far forward as he was against Wolves in the first half, I think Sanson allowed him that freedom when he was playing. I also think a few posters on here gave him a glowing reference before he joined, which then led to a few of us expecting much more from him, but we need to give him time!
13 Mar 2021 20:10:58
I really am not sure we should be discussing Sansom and his shortcomings, he hasn't been given a fair chance to show us what he can do. We should be judging the short comings of the so called established players who, over the last half a dozen games have been woeful. Luiz has been mentioned, he really is in the bang average camp, I haven't seen any improvement, in fact he is going backwards. Mcginn, Barkley have all had far more game time than Sanson, far more than their performances deserve. Give Sansom three or four starts and then judge him, he definitely has not been given a fair chance to show us what he can do. This is all down to poor management, which doesn't seem to be able to address what's going wrong.
13 Mar 2021 23:16:50
Everything is up for discussion Scott, if you feel it’s wrong or what not it’s probably best to just not get involved in that particular thread. Arguments both for and against Sansons form have been fair and balanced on both sides in this thread and no ones gone too OTT either way.
The form of the players you have mentioned has been discussed to death over the last few months so it’s good to have something fresh to discuss.
You have sort of changed the topic to mirror more or less exactly what you have posted about below, which can make every thread resort to the same discussions.
To be honest I agree with your point, the players you have mentioned have been average, since probably the C.V. break, Barkley a lot worse than average imo😂 but when you talk about needing to replace them it’s important to remember form, we are at rock bottom in terms of form at the minute, we can all see it. But at some of our worst we got a win at southampton, draw against Brighton and Newcastle. Take Luiz for instance, first quarter of the season he was phenomenal, regular in the Brazil squad, dictating games and had us all wetting ourselves Man City would be taking him back. If that’s him at his best, as a young player, you don’t get rid of them if you can help it, you have to try an get the best out of them week in week out. So no doubt we need new players, but brandishing significant amounts the squad as bang average, when we’ve seen extended periods of the season where by them players have been brilliant, is way off the mark in my opinion.
For me, trim the squad a little (El Ghazi, Engels, Elmo, Taylor, Hourihane, Ramsey loan, Davis Loan) and add 2 or 3 guaranteed starters, promote some youth (Rowe) and maybe add some younger players who will même fit the first team but also grow. And then allow them to continue to grow and learn together.
We have gone from scraping survival to mid table/ top half, the progress to the next step will not happen over night, we have the benefit of allowing the team to grow together. So as fans we need to understand that and yes criticise and discuss where needed, but always remember the progress we’ve made in the short space of time, where we are going and that it’s going to take time to get there.
14 Mar 2021 01:52:07
Sanson needs more time to judge him imo, he had a good half against wolves but the tide had turned the minute the second half started and sanson didn’t come off till the 61st minute so for me he wasn’t the reason we were poor in the second half as we were poor while he was still on the pitch, maybe he was carrying the knock from first half I’m not sure when it happened maybe u guys know?
For me the problem is on the wings, I always liked trez but he’s just terrible this year I stood up for him earlier in the season but I have no argument now he’s just not good enough, I’m also torn on traore I think he’s weak on the ball and in the tackle I don’t see this side of him that Chris has mentioned defending well I think to unpredictable he’s only got 1 foot, he has moments of brilliance but he’s not a first 11 player in a team that want to go for Europe spots regularly, good option off the bench is the best I’d rate him for. we need 2 wingers that give us what young and downing gave us, speed, going past players, getting crosses in, I’d rather see us play 4-4-2 and let Ollie have a strike partner, if our defence is as good as everyone raves about we shouldn’t need 3 center midfielders cause it’s taking from our attacking side of the game IMO.
14 Mar 2021 09:06:12
I thought the same re the Wolves game until I saw it back whatattack, at the start of the second half we still were dominating the ball and had a decent chance and a few half chances. They then had a good five minutes but it definitely turned when Sanson came off.
14 Mar 2021 09:16:02
I wasn't being unfair. I think my first sentence clearly explains that. I said he's not had much time yet and so he's still plenty of time to prove himself. I was just explaining that so far he has, imo, been quite poor. I'm fully aware that he may turn out good, just like Luiz did, as mentioned.
14 Mar 2021 10:23:28
I won’t argue to much on this 1 Chris I only watched it the once, I have liked bits of what I’ve seen from him for sure, he has potential, will probably be a good discussion for the end of the season, his transfer fee has probably come from next years budget so hopefully he’s worth every penny come may, thinking about transfers and our plan for going forward we are probably looking at only spending 50-60 million in the summer having already bought him, I think even though we are probably ahead of where we thought we would be, we will stick to our long term plan so as not to get to far over our heads in terms of FFP, sorry for mentioning those 3 letters ED😂😂.
14 Mar 2021 12:07:20
Shame on you Whacky, now you must do FFP ( fifty five push ups ) and never mention it again ðŸ¤ðŸ¤«.
14 Mar 2021 12:27:57
If we are keeping Jack and I was Dean smith I would definitely sign a specialist Free Kick Taker. Can you imagine how many goals / chances we would have created if we had somebody like James Ward - Prowse. Jack is fouled so often that we miss out when we have somebody like Traore taking free kicks.
I’d sign Amavi for LB / LW competition (£0)
Tammy cf £40m
Toney Cf £30
Then play Watkins/ Tammy/ Toney as an interchanging front 3. Jack in midfield.
Bring back Guilbert and get rid of trez / el ghazi - ensuring our youth starts making the match day squad.