I've enjoyed the debate over the last few days. Football may have become a witches' cauldron of money and corruption at the top level, but at least we fans continue to argue vehemently over what is best for the clubs we love.

I have no idea whether Martin O'Neill was ever targeted with a five-year-plan. And I'm not sure I even care. But being a Villa fan, what I do care about is that every season we make some progress. Get better. Close the gap.

Have we done that this season? The statistics are conflicting: we've scored fewer goals than last season, but scored a couple more points. We've consolidated our position and given Everton even more to think about, but the boys from the Emirates hardly lost a moment's sleep.

I know there are young Villa fans out there everywhere who think the answer to everything is for Randy Lerner to open his fat chequebook and buy loads of stars from overseas in the summer.

We could do that. And it may work. But we wouldn't exactly be treading a new route, would we? In fact, we'd be going down the same route as Manchester City, Newcastle, Spurs, Portsmouth and all the others who have tried to assemble squads of bargain-buy superstars from abroad.

Unless I am blind or stupid, we finished comfortably above all those sides this season. Which by definition means we did something right.

So rather than focus on what we did wrong in the latter half of the season, why the hell don't we focus on what we did right to enable us to secure a second consecutive top six finish? I know that will annoy all the kids massively, but some of us have been in football a long time.

1. We kept the same manager. You do not have to be Einstein to work out that continuity works. All the big four apart from Chelsea (who have paid for it), but more importantly Everton - our biggest rivals now - have worked out that continuity is vital. David Moyes is about to enter his seventh season at Everton, and has built a side capable of pushing the top four every season.

It's been a long-term job, and presumably very hard work. I look into his CV, and I don't see him paying fortunes for supposed superstars from abroad. I see a few clever purchases, and a lot of buys that most people wouldn't see. Cahill? Arteta? Great players now - nothing then. Most importantly, the board and the fans kept faith.

2. We bought players who want to fight. Say what you like about quality, O'Neill has a better record on signing "desire" than most other managers. Shearer looked desperate on the sidelines on Sunday, because his team didn't play and didn't fight. Whatever you say about Curtis Davies, Nigel Reo-Coker, Nicky Shorey and James Milner - they want to win and when they come on they fight. And their will to win is obvious.

3. We attacked teams away from home. Villa were ruthless away from home when we had the security of Martin Laursen behind us. It changed in the second half of the season, but I am not sure that many sides could have coped with the loss of a defender who - to my mind as a football coach - had until then been the best central defender in Europe or possibly the world.

4. We built a dressing room. As an ex-player, I know that there is so much tosh talked about squad-building. I know that one of Arsenal's problems is that the English players (the one or two of them) struggle with the fact that French is routinely spoken in the dressing room. I understand Villa have a very strong and "together" dressing room. I happen to believe that the fact they all speak English is a help (cue all the shite about football being a universal language from the spotty teenagers who've never played the game properly).

So what did we do wrong, then?

1. We bought good players, and then played them out of position. Because we didn't fill our squad with enough Premier League standard players, when the going got tough we just didn't have the cover. It would be all too easy to criticise Steve Sidwell, Nigel Reo-Coker and Luke Young - but these lads have been brought in to cover too often when injuries and suspensions have forced it.

I reckon all of them, without exception, could be excellent Premier League players if given the chance to express themselves where they play best. And I don't give a flying stuff if Reading or Middlesbrough or West Ham couldn't get the best out of them - because Villa are better than that.

2. We bottled it at home. Martin O'Neill set the side up to use its pace on the counter attack - and that's why we got so many points away from home where opponents came onto us. But we were largely clueless at Villa Park, where our opponents sat back and played for a point.

The statistics show they usually got one.

Having lost Partik Berger and then Shaun Maloney, two real lock pickers, I was surprised and disappointed that O'Neill moved for Heskey in January instead of an attacking midfield playmaker whose sole purpose would be to use skill and guile to upset, disrupt and break down opposing back fours. That, to me was and remains a mistake and a hole in the manager's thinking.

3. We ignored Europe. This, to me, was a case of crass arrogance. With Van Persie and Fabregas returning and with the signing of Arshavin, it was never going to be likely that Villa would hold off Arsenal for fourth. Sorry boys, not yet! So to send the reserves out for a key UEFA Cup game, when so many of us had already travelled to Iceland, was a mistake. We could have won the UEFA Cup - it was won by Shakhtar Donhetsk - are they so much better than us? No , we could have won the damned thing.

4. We didn't buy Michael Owen from Newcastle. Owen's had a horrible time on Tyneside. But wherever he's been, his goals-per-minute ratio tops the charts. Which means he's officially the best goalscorer in the world.

Now. AC Milan sold us Martin Laursen on the cheap because they knew his knees were knackered. We've had other defenders in the past whose knees were knackered (remember?).

We got two fabulous seasons out of Martin Laursen thanks to Randy's surgeons. Do you think we might be able to get two 25-goal seasons out of Michael Owen thanks to the same surgeons? If if costs us £100k a game, who the hell would care? Apart from David Moyes.

These are just my thoughts. All I have to do now is sit back and get completely savaged. But it comes with the territory.

Comments (50)

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RayK said:

... agree with everything except Michael Owen. I don't want to go into next season with Heskey and Owen up.

Comment 1, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.07 am

RayK said:

... up front that is....

Comment 2, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.09 am

billavfc said:

... Good post Doc, if we address the situation now, how much money/who would you buy? To break the top 4?

Comment 3, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.11 am

David Tyler said:

... Great post, Doc. I like the balance. Sure, tackle the issues but credit and optimism where it's due. The mistakes are addressable. I guess the one about not signing the attacking midfielder is linked to the charge of inflexibility on the formation front. If we can add real plans B and C this year, we'll be making further progress. I'd take 5th or 6th next year. It's not because I lack ambition though - I see no reason why the following year shouldn't be a full tilt at Top 4.

Comment 4, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.13 am

ak_27 said:

... Sorry Doc NRC and Siswell are not good players. They are average players and that is what is wrong with us at the moment. Too many average players who are technically just not good enough to bring us any further up the table.

Comment 5, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.18 am

Coops said:

... Another classic Doc, good points a plenty, all well made. The spine of the side still troubles me, we need a collosus to replace Laursen, a lock picker (as you put it) to have a better chance against the lesser 11 men behind the ball teams and a 25 man. Could it be Owen? To be honest I don't care, the next step is challenging Arsenal for 38 games, not 25, and we're not going to do that without someone banging them in week after week. Almost everything else is in place, bar a couple of fullbacks.

Comment 6, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.21 am

John Flynn said:

... I think Owen and Carew could work.. One thing is for sure Gabby must be made to fight for his place next season.!

Comment 7, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.23 am

Altan Kargaci said:

... Great read Doc , not sure about the Michael Owen comment . I really feel the lad has fallen out of love with football . Your right about our lack of points at home being down to basically not having a plan B . It's also got to be a sign of respect that so many teams visited villa park looking to sit back for a point. We have been crying out for an attacking flare type midfeilder for some time now . The sort of player that could unlock defences at villa park.Personally I think Milner could be that player. To some extent with the loss of Laursen we need to start again from the back . Get our defence sorted and build from there. Would like to bring in Ben Foster Loan( World cup year, he will want to play ) Hangerland Bently/ Defour Tuncy/Bent

Comment 8, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.30 am

testie said:

... I would say that we have made progress this season although it is hard to not be disappointed with our final 10 or so games as we lost that spark and obviously did not win anywhere near as many games. To me this says that the core of the team is capable of pushing for forth, as when we were on song like during the first half of the season as we would have given anyone a game.The well highlighted problem by many on this site is that we have fallen short due to lack of quality in depth. When Gabby needed a game off we had know one to come in, when Thor got injured who really stepped up? I think with MON in charge all we need is say five players, five quality players that are pushing if not replacing some of our starting 11. Currently we have no competition, look how shabba hot Carew has been since we bought the Hesk. I am filled with hope, if we can get a striker, CAM, winger, CB and a left/right back who are all better or in some cases equal to our current players with room for improvement i have no doubt that we will finish forth or above next season. Obviously this is not champ manager so it is easier said that done especially with MON late transfer habits, what do you fellas reckon?? Will we do this?? And if so who will we end up getting???

Comment 9, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.31 am

Damian said:

... Next season is going to be very interesting. I think it fair to say that we need more players, certainly if the likes of Harewood, Barry and Laursen are not going to be with us and we accept that the likes of Hesjey are not good enough. So we need to bring in players ... I like the idea of getting a Cahill or an Arteta but isn't that Doug Ellis thinking; look for bargains? Sometimes, we need to bring in proven quality and I think this summer is one of those times. By all means spend £5mn. on three players with the hope that one comes good, but I think we also need to be bringing in quality at the same time. O'Neill is most definitely the man for the job though I can understand why some are frustrated. I think we've just got to ride the wave and let what he is trying to ahcieve fall into place.

Comment 10, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.37 am

RayK said:

... A fully fit Michael Owen scoring 25 goals a season would be fantastic and probably make the difference between 6th and 4th spot (along with a few other signings). However the likelihood is that he'll play 3 games here, miss a couple and not train regularly etc. We then end up in the situation where MON feels obliged to play him, probably alongside Heskey, in order to create some glory days of yesteryear and it just won't work. There have been a few people on here who have put forward the name of Vagner Love - now he really is a player who would work well alongside Carew, and give Gabby some competition off the field too!

Comment 11, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.37 am

Woz said:

... I really worry about our defence next season, I really dont see how we can replace the great Dane!

Comment 12, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.41 am

john said:

... I can see us going in for Bent, Bentley, Haangerland, cheeky bid for joe cole, and I consider we'd have nothing to lose by giving Owen a chance... He may well have lost the desire to play football, but wouldn't you if you were a barcode? I think the above signings might just give us that push to make the top 4 a regular push. I'm not sure what the problem is in CM. On paper we've got barry, sidwell, petrov, reo-coker who should be pushing but between the 4 of them there is still just that something missing. Maybe the problme is barry.

Comment 13, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.42 am

Kiwivillan said:

... I was a big fan of Tim Cahill when he was at Millwall and wished we'd signed him. He wasn't nothing then.

Comment 14, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.43 am

JNH said:

... Good post. Finally people are looking at the positives this season, and there's a lot to look at. On the Owen front, i think having someone of his quality in our squad would be great,(maybe he could teach Gabby a thing or two about finishing). Also as everyone says, when he is fit he will score and thats what we need. His brain as a striker is definitely what we need as Gabby just doesnt have that yet. I would love to see Owen and Carew up front next season with an injection of Gabby's pace when needed.

Comment 15, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.44 am | url

jon said:

... Great article Doc, like the savage comments about the younger generation who want instant results. Sidwell and NRC are good players but neither fits the way that Villa plays at the moment. Sidwell was instrumental at Reading where the ball was played along the ground. NRC used to be an attack-minded midfielder before being converted to defensive midfield/right midfield/right-back, none of those positions is he is first-choice though.

Comment 16, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.48 am

jk92923 said:

... Great piece! totally agree. attacking midfielder to unlock defences. if the old Diego rumours came true, eh?? looks like he will be Juventus player next year though....

Comment 17, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.52 am

jk92923 said:

... " Aston Villa, Tottenham and Arsenal are set for an £11million tug of war for Ryan Babel after Rafael Benitez told him he can leave Liverpool ".....thoughts?

Comment 18, made on May 27, 2009 at 10.54 am

Nick said:

... The only way I can see Babel coming to us is if Barry goes the other way

Comment 19, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.05 am

Mark said:

... Good balanced article Doc. I find it staggering that many fans don't want Owen. Which top goalscorer do they think we are going to outbid the top four, Man C and Spurs for? It's quite right to say we got Laursen and McGrath because they were damaged goods, we would not have had them otherwise. On the subject of who is good and who isn't let's not forget how Petrov got slated the season before. Sometimes individuals have to bide their time to find their niche. The fact than NRC and Sidwell get a bad press is largely because Barry and Petrov were injury free last season and therefore the door never opened for them. Do we want a squad or not? Finally, if it was arrogance that MON thought we could finish fourth well I'm all for it. I hope next season we go all out for it again and to be quite honest I wouldn't give a toss about any of the cup competitions. Do I want us to be like Spurs and Portsmouth in recent times? Where did their trophies get them? A couple of days on the back pages and a day out. I would rather be competing not praying for a lucky draw out the bag.

Comment 20, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.09 am

Damian said:

... Re. Babel please see: http://www.villabanter.com/for...p?f=3&t=36

Comment 21, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.11 am

RayK said:

... JK92923 - an interesting one. I think Babel is basically a right wing version of Ashley Young and so in that respect could be a great signing. If we did go for him I'd be really tempted to go for a 4-3-3 formation with a front three of Young, Carew/Love/Gabby and Babel. Given that O'Neil likes his 4-4-2 though we might be a bit light in midfield having two out-and-out wingers. That's why I think Bentley might be the more likely option in a 4-4-2.

Comment 22, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.13 am

peter haworth said:

... Great Post really enjoyed it.Agree with everything except Owen,not sure he has the desire or hunger to carry on plus his body seems knackered.I do not want to see Villa selling NRC or Sidwell as they are quality players that are going to be needed in a squad system next season.We do need to add 5 quality players including the lock picker,striker alongside Carew,a giant of a centre back,another full back for cover and a wide man.Also do not sell Shorey he will be needed and should have started more games last season.Keep up these good reads.

Comment 23, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.18 am

Paul Egan said:

... Pretty much bang on, Doc. Although, I think it's more important for strikers to be in good physical shape than it is for centre backs. Not sure about Owen, but I'd love to be proven wrong!

Comment 24, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.20 am

Nick said:

... Straight swap for Barry would be best. Barry is good but he and Petrov are too predictable together.

Comment 25, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.22 am

James Sutton said:

... I think that babel could be that lock picker, given a free role as that was what he was known for before he got to liverpool, from what I remember reading (i could be wrong) he was likened to henry and liked to roam from 1 side of the pitch to the other, so in a 5 man midfield he would be good for us, but will mon play a 5 man midfield? Also would like to see bentley and owen come to us, but the major thing to sort out is the defence.

Comment 26, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.26 am

john said:

... I think Ash Young could be our lock picker. He's perfect for that central deep role.

Comment 27, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.29 am

Nick said:

... Just heard Galatasary want Van Nistleroy maybe Villa should put a bid in?

Comment 28, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.32 am

Altan Kargaci said:

... Pennent, underrated in my opinion and wouldn't cost the earth. Agree with whoever said Ash Young to be our lock picker , would be perfect in a five man midfeild . Great shout !

Comment 29, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.40 am

RayK said:

... Owen and Van Nistlerooy up front - we'd need to have a knee surgeon instead of a phsyio If we're talking of bargains how about Slyvain Distin for our central defence? Okay we'd probably only get a couple of seasons out of him but for a rumoured £3m his no nonsense defending could be just what we need whilst Davies and Clark mature a bit more. I'd certainly rather have him than Zat Knight. My preference clearly though would be to spend £15m and get someone who could be with us for the next 5 years.

Comment 30, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.41 am

DavidC said:

... Excellent article that - well thought out, considered, and spot-on. Lock-pickers in the mode of Sid Cowans in his pomp are well nigh impossible to find these days. I'd argue that neither Chelsea, Man U or Liverpool play with one currently. Instead they have midfielders that can force the issue and take the iniative themselves rather than spot an astute pass (Lampard, Essien, Gerard, Fletcher, Ronaldo). There's absolutely nothing wrong with playing two steady/holding midfielders in the centre of the park. That is as long as you have genuine quality / pace up-front and out wide to compensate. Personally I'd focus on a wide-man (Bentley?). Obviously a top-notch, dominating centre-half (someone in the Vidic mode). And a left-back who can add something going forwards.

Comment 31, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.46 am

ak_27 said:

... RayK i think MON would be mad not to go and get Distan for £3m(then again he didn't go for him when he was on a free 3 years ago and opted to pay £4m for Zat)). He is better then anything we have at the moment. Bring in Hangeland get rid of Knight and that is the CB situation sorted.

Comment 32, made on May 27, 2009 at 11.55 am

Matthew Clark said:

... Bouma will just crunch everyone next season.

Comment 33, made on May 27, 2009 at 12.01 pm

ak_27 said:

... Doc to claim that Laursen was possibly the best defender in the world is absolutley mad. The guy was a good defender but was also flawed. He was sometimes like a oil tanker trying to turn and if he was the best defender in the world how come in the last 2 years since he was playing we conceeded so many goals. Yes we will find it very difficult to replace the man and that is down to him being a good plaer and also down to MON's lack of ability to spot talent. But no way was he even in the top 4 Centre backs in England never mind the world.

Comment 34, made on May 27, 2009 at 12.21 pm

Mark said:

... AK with you there but I think he was capable of playing at the top level. We tend to overestimate our defenders - Mellberg and Bouma are cases in point. Bottom line however is we have failed to create a defensive unit. Perhaps ON has to take some blame there in buying centre helves who appear a bit lightweight on the injury front?

Comment 35, made on May 27, 2009 at 12.34 pm

Mark said:

... AK I meant agree - I know it's hard to say!

Comment 36, made on May 27, 2009 at 12.34 pm

RayK said:

... If we want a genuine midfield 'lock-picker' then it has to be Joe Cole surely? If we continue to want to play 4-4-2 with two genuine wingers then I think it would be very hard to fit our 'lock-picker' in central midfield as we would just get over-run in midfield and our defence simply isn't strong enough to withstand that. To be honest (and this is where I agree with David C to an extent) I doubt whether ManU's, Liverpool's or Chelsea's would be either - but that is why they play more of a 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 formation to compensate AND the quality of their holding midfielders is better than Barry, Petrov and NRC. Given our desire to play with genuine wingers I think it would make much more sense to have that creativity coming from a deep-lying / second striker like a Kaka/Baggio/Zola. I don't care if you call it 4-4-2 with a second striker or 4-2-3-1 but the effect is the same. As for who to go for, I think Eidur Gudjohnsen would be perfect option for us over the next couple of seasons.

Comment 37, made on May 27, 2009 at 1.01 pm

Michael said:

... I agree with you 100% on the owen situation, i really hope we get him!! excellent post, always like on the bright side of life!

Comment 38, made on May 27, 2009 at 1.06 pm

testie said:

... We need to drop the possibility of Joe Cole comming to the Villa. He is a real fans faviourite at Chelsea and would not leave them for anything other that champions league footy or a reunion with Mourinho neither of which we can not offer. Some of you boys need to get more realistic with your targets. The problem that we have sometimes in the transfer window is that people think that just because they can sign players like Joe Cole on Fifa or Champ manager does means the same can be done in real life. When fit Joe Cole is a starter for Chelsea there is no chance of a move to villa park, suggesting transfers like this sets us up for dissapointment every time.

Comment 39, made on May 27, 2009 at 1.19 pm

ak_27 said:

... AVMark yeah i agree with you about the unit. I just think we needlessly give the ball away too much and the back line are the biggest culprets of this. They just are not comfortable on the ball and are just too willing to bang it the lenght of the pitch. This only leads to us having to defend more as we give the opposition the ball too much. I mean take Fulham for example. They have had a great season especially defensively. Now if you look at their back line other then Hanngeland they are not better then what we have but they manage to keep far more clean sheets and i believe this comes from their abilty to keep possession of the ball all over the pitch starting from the back line.

Comment 40, made on May 27, 2009 at 1.28 pm

RayK said:

... testie - i don't own Fifa or Champ manager and never have. the thread was talking about genuine 'lock-picker' midfielders and Joe Cole is exactly that sort of player. as for whether he'd come to Villa who knows but I bet you if Man City bid £20m and offered to pay him £100k a week he'd be there in a shot. As the red mist descended you probably missed that I actually stated I'd go for Eidur Gudjohnsen as I think he'd fit better into a 4-4-2 formation). Or is he out of our reach too?

Comment 41, made on May 27, 2009 at 1.28 pm

jk92923 said:

... i dont think its just the "lock-picker" we need, but some stability behind the midfielders. too many times, we have left gaping holes in front of the defence which lead to leaking many goals. reverting to 4-5-1 is the only way our current team can gel as they did at the beginning of the year...

Comment 42, made on May 27, 2009 at 1.38 pm

Nicky Villa said:

... Very good post Doc. I have been supporting the club for 25 years. We have always in that time always needed a player or 3 to complete the "jigsaw". Alot of this had to do with Doug Ellis I admit, but we seem to always fall short for one excuse or another. I think the fact is Aston Villa has long been a place of desire for a potential world class player who is looking to progress his career. Maybe after our brief stint in the top 4 this season will make players like, Hangerland, Bentley, Babel, Defour or maybe even Michael Owen look at our club in a slightly better light. So to sum up, we need to buy a world class defender, a creative & tricky, lock picker of a midfielder and a 20 goal-a-season striker. No change there then!

Comment 43, made on May 27, 2009 at 1.54 pm

testie said:

... RayK- My appologies i'm just a little sick of reading peoples views on completely unrealistic transfer targets joe cole being one. Although i disagree that he would go to Man City for money but you never know. With regards to transfers and ManCity v Villa they have a completely different draw for players than us, namely money money and more money.It would be down to the player in question if the two clubs came calling where he would go, to Man city for lots and lots and lots of money? or go to the villa push for champions league and be happy with just 60-80k a week? (still lots of money) I wouldn't say that Gudjohnsen is a lock picker but then again i haven't seen him play much for Barca and towards the end at Chelsea he never really played did he?. Tuncay is very similar to Cole and realistic, he has show glimpses of brillance even in a really poor boro side he could be a shout, what do you think?. The player i would like the most upfornt is Wagner Love he tore us apart earlier in the season and i think he woud be a class act in the prem league and fit into our style of play, strong, quick,an eye for goal and a bit of brazilian flair. I have no idea if he would be avaliable but would like to think we would enquire about him he may be possible.

Comment 44, made on May 27, 2009 at 2.15 pm

RayK said:

... Testie - I totally agree Vagner Love is a top, top quality player and I said earlier on here I'd much rather go for Love than Owen as I think he'd work well with Carew. As for Joe Cole and Man C the only point I was making is that some top players do move for reasons other than CL football or being re-united with a manager - and you're right that reason is money. I'm sure if we offered Chelsea and Cole enough it would be possible. I'm not saying we necessarily should do that... re Gudjohnsen he is certainly no Kaka or Baggio but he has developed into an attacking midfielder / deeper lying forward and that he might be a good option for us given that we play 4-4-2. I think Tuncay is a good shout too for that type of player. Given the option of Cole or Vagner Love it would be the latter every time for me. Carew and Love could be awesome for us.

Comment 45, made on May 27, 2009 at 2.37 pm

RayK said:

... okay, summing all this up what does everyone think to the following: - Short term Laursen replacement - Distin at £3m - Cover at right back - Kyle Naughton / Nathaniel Clyne at c£3m - Barry in straight swap for Babel - £20m on Vagner Love. First choice (4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1) - Freidel - Luke Young - Cuellar - Distin / Davies - Bouma - Babel / Milner - Petrov - Reo-Coker - Young - Love - Carew / Agbonlahor Petrov and NRC's sole purpose would be to defend the back four but with the attacking option of Young, Love, Babel and Carew there's plenty of pace and creativity to score enough goals. At home I would play more of a 4-2-3-1 with Young, Love and Babel playing behind Carew/Gabby or even Heskey. Away it would be the more conventional 4-4-2 that has served us well meaning that Milner would play on the right side of midfield instead of Babel. That would cost us a net of just £26m and imo would be miles better than our current first choice eleven. Ideally I'd like that £15m Vidic type player rather than Distin but at £3m Distin seems like such good value for a big strong & experienced central defender with a good couple of seasons left in him.

Comment 46, made on May 27, 2009 at 3.15 pm

Nicky Villa said:

... RayK, I would say Distin is a good idea, but I would also try and get another centre back as Davies and Cueller were unconvincing at times. Vagner Love won't come to Villa. We have a more realistic chance of getting someone like Bent or Owen I would say. O'Neill will probably move Freidel & Reo-coker on.

Comment 47, made on May 27, 2009 at 3.56 pm

RayK said:

... Given the option I'd like to offload Knight and bring in Distin AND get that £10m - £15m defender in (Joleon Lescott, Raul Albiol, Hangeland etc). I agree that any English, Italian, Spanish or German team offering CL football will beat us to the signature of Love. MON does have a habit of trying to get players who have performed well against his side and so I'm hoping Love's performance will have motivated him to try and sign him.

Comment 48, made on May 27, 2009 at 4.56 pm

Lindenio said:

... I read this site everyday and have done for a few seasons now, ive got to finally comment on this ''who are we gonna buy'' malarky. Lets some up the whole host of names mentioned as potential signings on this thread alone.... Michael Owen - Now whilst technically, age wise, he is in his prime, his fitness, hunger, knees are not. A natural goalscorer??? maybe a few year ago. For christs sake he was just part of team who got relegated. We cannot be buying players from relegated teams. Sorenson, McCann and Phillips spring to mind. Owens top level career is over. B. Hangerland Has put in some good performances when i have watched Fulham this season - which was honestly only the one game, at Villa Park. Who else can say they actually knew much about him and thought before the media started banding his name about in the gossip columns. Buying a centre half of Fulham?????? No thank you. David Bently Simples. He turned us down for Spurs in the first place and now cant get into the Tottenham team. If you aint good enough for their team, your no good for us. Defour Again who can tell me they have seen this guy play to warrant his name being mentioned. When was the last time anybody saw a Belgian league game. Tuncay Sanli I will actually say that the guys a good player, however i would look a good player surrounded by the Midlesbrough youth academys finest. Boro were awful this season and its not hard to stand out, but he wont be coming to us and will be headed back to Turksville. Darren Bent A decent striker, who would fit into a long line of past Villa strikers......... he'd promise much but still turn out a donkey!!!!!!! Hes got everything about him to make me believe he'd be a wash out for us. Your not going to challenge the top four with Bent leading your line. I'd see him more of a squad player and im against buying to beef up the squad, buy class and use use the demoted players as cover. Simples. Vagner Love Pure and simple quality. But equally pure and simple fantasy. We couldnt afford him, both his transfer fee or wage demands. Villa have a pay structure in place. I can see him moving, but to a big european club playing Champs League football - it is World Cup year after all and he'll want to showcase himself to get into the squad. Joe Cole Im not even going to waste my time. No chance. Joleon Lescott If Aston Villa offered 20 million for him, we'd not only get him, but we'd also bag the next best centre half to Rio. Only hang up, we aint going to offer 20 m for him. Sorry lads but its not going to happen. He'll be at Man U in a few seasons, mark my words. Babel Would be a gamble signing him, Hes a headless chicken at times, a bit like Gabby, runs ever so fast, but thinks ever so slow. Would we pay close to 10m on him? the jurys out on this one. Ruuuuuuuuuuuuud v. Nistelrooooooooy absolutely no chance. His wage demands would be obscene. Also has knees like a giraffe after all the operations hes had on them.... they bend the opposite way. Pennant Circus boy and not the type of individual Martin O'Neill would want around his football club. Eidur Gudjonsson I actually think we could sign him and he is a good player, similar to Sheringham. I believe his dad is his agent. This made me think back to last year when he was not in the Barca team and his dad came out and said he would only join a London team. Therefore he would have to be convinced by O'Neill. Kyle Naughton if we buy players like this then the words progress should never be mentioned on this site again. OVERVIEW Aston Villa need to buy players from big teams who are in the first XI. Anything but is not progress, but im not stupid and know this is not going to happen, therefore we are not going to progress in the transfer market until the current crop of players performs, and im sorry, we blew it after Xmas. This summer would have been so different if we would have qualified for the Champs League. However, on a positive note, we have some excellent players and a decent squad. I actually think we dont need to sell anybody and add 4 - QUALITY replacements. An important squad factor is that we have players who do not come out and moan about not playing every week, this is a major plus for us. All we have to do this summer is target the obvious gaps in our strongest XI, buy some QUALITY replacements and use the demoted players as squad players. You do not buy players to sit on benches. Anyway, O'Neill will be buying the players this summer, not us. Let him get on with it. Its not good for our heads going over who we can buy all the time. Lets wait and see what happens until August

Comment 49, made on May 28, 2009 at 12.16 am

Martin Clabon said:

... Great post Doc, I too am a grumpy old bastard who thinks the yooooof should listen to us wise old heads who have seen it all before rather than spouting their nonsense! David C, I am willing to pull the shirt on again for the cause but think the legs may let me down Lindenio, you depressed me a bit, either plyers are out of our league or not good enough, perhaps we should give up. I think we ought to be buying young talented players like Naughton, Wheater, Delph and Fox with a view to letting (some) of them come through slowly and add depth to the squad, we will not be able to buy the finished article to sit on our bench. My waste of time wish list of players more or less available/ achievable and often linked to us: Robert Green - not desperate for a keeper but would be nice as the Brads are too old or not convinced yet Big old dominant CH, would like a top quality player like Hangeland (if he's not a one season wonder) or Lescott but would settle for temporary cover such as Distin Young up and coming CH, David Wheater, future Villa legend. I doubt anyone on this site has seen Wheather more than me and I think he is class, dominant at the back and scores goals so not sure why he gets such a slagging Gareth Bale - this guy has so much talent it hurts but is not fitting in at Spurs. Is better on the ball than nearly anyone at Villa and I reckon better in a more advanced role as not the greatest defender Couple of young FBs as a gamble such as Fox and Naughton Lock picker - Pablo Aimar - fab player but not sure of his current availability (to be honest haven't seen him play much this year) so not sure if this is a posible or not. I would love Joe Cole and while he is a fans favorite at Chelsea I reckon he will leave Chelsea this summer - but almost certainly not to us Young potential lock picker Fabian Delph, not seen him that much but have aheard a couple of very knowledgeable Leeds fans talking about him as a future great - but who knows Bentley - if we can get him for sub £10M and MON confident he can get his attitude right Sturridge - would love a Vagner Love or proven goalscorer but don't think we will be willing to spend enough on a player to buy the right level of proven quality. There is a chance Sturridge will become a special player and I am probably alone in thinking that with Carew, Gabbi, Fons and ....wait for it ...Heskey, we are not bad up front. Beckford might be a possible punt or even the ex Walsall CF who scored loads of goals this season and Merse raves about (can't rememebr his name) but obviously a gamble. A fit Ashton (impossible) would be class. Owen, not thanks, has lost eye of tiger - but who knows could get it back but I feel this would be a disaster I know this is virtually a whole new team but no supperstars and all within our compass. If we were to lose a few (Barry, Shorey, Harewood, Osbourne, Taylor etc) we might even be able to push the boat out and get a special player (Diego, dream on). I'm sure there are better cheaper talents abroad but I don't know who they are - hopefull MON and his vast scouting network do! This is my favorite part of the season, our winning run is extending all the time, I don't see us losing for months yet and we can still dream that next season will be the big one and maybe with the odd great addition to the squad with exotic unpronouncable names which, until you see them play at least, convince you they must be good players, we can do something special. Please no J Pennant I promise no more lists of players this window - we're all allowed one though, right?

Comment 50, made on May 31, 2009 at 9.38 pm

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