Koulibaly

comment by CurrentlyInChina (U11181)
posted 9 hours, 52 minutes ago
He was poor against Arsenal but good against others. Players do have poor games. It happens.

He's a good player. We do need ariel presence in defence. We could get him and Alderweireld and sell off Bailly and Rojo. That will leave Smalling and Jones as back ups. I'd want rid off them too, but they just signed new contracts. I'd rather Axel have another season at Villa especially if they get promoted.
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To be honest - and I'm aware I'm sounding like a broken record on this - I'd bring him into the squad. He's had a very good loan, has impressed in his first team appearances, is fast, strong, excellent on the ball, composed and level-headed. Can also cover at RB & CDM. He's our best talent in my view. At the very least he's the one that is ready.

That said, if we only ship out Rojo, then we're still going to have: Jones, Smalling, Lindelof, New Signing. You'd think 4 CB's would be enough, so staying with Villa if they go up could be a better option under those circumstances.

Ole said he’s excited to see Tuanzebe in pre season. I still think he’d be best served having another season on loan, but this time in the prem, just to get a years experience before coming back.

comment by Ed The King Woodward (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
Ole said he’s excited to see Tuanzebe in pre season. I still think he’d be best served having another season on loan, but this time in the prem, just to get a years experience before coming back.
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I suppose it really depends what happens in the market.

I'd imagine Ole plans Lindelof + a new signing to be the CB pairing, although I'm probably in the a minority in thinking that we'd simply be better off defensively by strengthening our RB position and our midfield and making sure we have players who can go and press the ball to alleviate pressure on the defence.

We may well do all of that, to be fair.

Hopefully!

New CB
Lindelof
Smalling
Bailly
Tuanzebe
TFM

That's what I'd be thinking.

Jones has to go. We can't rely on him to be ready when called upon.

If he was going to be competing for a first team berth, then I could deal with his absences. But you need your backup CBs to be ready all season. Same reason Rojo has to go.

Do we need that many defenders? I don’t think Jones will go, Rojo and Bailly most likely.

I'd forgotten about Bailly and I'm not really sure what's going on with TFM. He's had mixed loan spells and I believe a few injuries. Needs to stay fit and he might well simply need to come back to the club an be a back up.

We do need to trim the fat though and I agree with that list Rosso. We definitely need to lose Rojo + at least one of Jones or Bailly.

comment by Ed The King Woodward (U10026)
posted 12 minutes ago
Do we need that many defenders? I don’t think Jones will go, Rojo and Bailly most likely.
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We've had five in the squad this season and finished the season with one fit and available. You deffo need five, particularly with an EL campaign coming. Whether we hang on to Jones or Bailly, it'll be more like four and a half anyway

I've not counted TFM, because assuming he stays, he might be rotated with Dalot at RB and/or used as a utility man. I'd rather we have him available to play CB in emergencies than McT.

The worst thing about seeing McT moved to CB at the weekend was actually that it took our best midfielder out of the heart of the game. Which makes me want to cry when I think about it.

Fair point. But I wonder if an actual fitness regime may see some of those injury problems alleviated.

We’ll sign a rb so that’d put TFM even further down the pecking order.

I just get the impression Bailly isn’t valued at the club anymore. He wasn’t fancied by Mourinho for a season and a half and now by Ole. And he would probably command the most in transfer fee out of all the cb’s we’ve got.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see Tuanzebe, Jones, Smalling, Lindelof and new cb as our options next season. Still not good enough options but something to build on.