[Cll_ws]

Oscar Cardozo - has been told he can leave Benfica. Reports think he may be available for around £12m. Would be a huge signing and guarantees goals, he'd really be a "we mean business" signing. Just depends on whether Lambert will have the money to allow him to spend £12m on one player. Chelsea and Everton rumoured to be interested.

Daniel Sturridge - missed out on Euros because he doesn't play enough at Chelsea. Torres is already ahead of him, and they might be signing Hulk. He's in the last year of his contract so Chelsea want money for him they'll need to sell this year, or offer him a new contract if they want him. He's from Birmingham and is a Villa fan, which might help!

Niko Kranjcar - We're weak in central midfield and I think this guy would be a great buy. Great player in my opinion, won't cost too much either. Barely gets a look in at Spurs.
I also wouldn't mind Dos Santos from Spurs.

Adam Johnson - Apparently Sunderland, and O'Neill want him for around £10m. That'd be a bargain and i'd really like to think we were looking into that! Always been a big fan of his, but I can't see him ever getting a look in at City, no matter how well he plays.

We really need to sort out our defense. But I can't think of too many likely options available right now. Olsson could be a good shout. Maybe Maynor Figuroea from Wigan for left-back. Wouldn't mind either.

[boumavilla]

We need to sell everybody that is over 23 in our squad (and Delph) except for Given, Bent, Dunne, Holman and Makoun.
Then we have lots of money to buy a new back four, 3 new midfielders and 2 new strikers to add to our young players!
But that won't happen, I just hope we can sell Hutton and Warnock, because the rest of our players can be revitalised by the good man manager that is Paul Lambert. N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor and Ireland might gain their passion to play better for Aston Villa again.
A good "buy" would be Scharner (free).

[Aust1n]

A newspaper extract on the website reckons we could be in for Moses. Personally I think that would be a great addition to the squad.

[jackf1337]

(Original post by Cll_ws)
Oscar Cardozo - has been told he can leave Benfica. Reports think he may be available for around £12m. Would be a huge signing and guarantees goals, he'd really be a "we mean business" signing. Just depends on whether Lambert will have the money to allow him to spend £12m on one player. Chelsea and Everton rumoured to be interested.

Daniel Sturridge - missed out on Euros because he doesn't play enough at Chelsea. Torres is already ahead of him, and they might be signing Hulk. He's in the last year of his contract so Chelsea want money for him they'll need to sell this year, or offer him a new contract if they want him. He's from Birmingham and is a Villa fan, which might help!

Niko Kranjcar - We're weak in central midfield and I think this guy would be a great buy. Great player in my opinion, won't cost too much either. Barely gets a look in at Spurs.
I also wouldn't mind Dos Santos from Spurs.

Adam Johnson - Apparently Sunderland, and O'Neill want him for around £10m. That'd be a bargain and i'd really like to think we were looking into that! Always been a big fan of his, but I can't see him ever getting a look in at City, no matter how well he plays.

We really need to sort out our defense. But I can't think of too many likely options available right now. Olsson could be a good shout. Maybe Maynor Figuroea from Wigan for left-back. Wouldn't mind either.

Some great ideas there. Not sure if we need many more attacking options (unless we sell) but I'd love to see Sturridge at Villa. Him and N'Zogbia in an inside forward role with either Bent or Agbonlahor in the middle would be amazing. Johnson would also be an excellent signing I think. I'd love to see Milner return but I can't really see that happening, unless it's on loan.

(Original post by Aust1n)
A newspaper extract on the website reckons we could be in for Moses. Personally I think that would be a great addition to the squad.

I think he could do well, although we have Albrighton, N'Zogbia and Holmann on the wings, as well as Agbonlahor (failing) out there. Do we need another?

[Aust1n]

Moses is better than all of them IMO. He would make the others get off their arses too.

[boumavilla]

(Original post by Cll_ws)
Oscar Cardozo - has been told he can leave Benfica. Reports think he may be available for around £12m. Would be a huge signing and guarantees goals, he'd really be a "we mean business" signing. Just depends on whether Lambert will have the money to allow him to spend £12m on one player. Chelsea and Everton rumoured to be interested.

Daniel Sturridge - missed out on Euros because he doesn't play enough at Chelsea. Torres is already ahead of him, and they might be signing Hulk. He's in the last year of his contract so Chelsea want money for him they'll need to sell this year, or offer him a new contract if they want him. He's from Birmingham and is a Villa fan, which might help!

Niko Kranjcar - We're weak in central midfield and I think this guy would be a great buy. Great player in my opinion, won't cost too much either. Barely gets a look in at Spurs.
I also wouldn't mind Dos Santos from Spurs.

Adam Johnson - Apparently Sunderland, and O'Neill want him for around £10m. That'd be a bargain and i'd really like to think we were looking into that! Always been a big fan of his, but I can't see him ever getting a look in at City, no matter how well he plays.

We really need to sort out our defense. But I can't think of too many likely options available right now. Olsson could be a good shout. Maybe Maynor Figuroea from Wigan for left-back. Wouldn't mind either.

I like the ideas, but think of the wages!!

[Cll_ws]

(Original post by jackf1337)
Some great ideas there. Not sure if we need many more attacking options (unless we sell) but I'd love to see Sturridge at Villa. Him and N'Zogbia in an inside forward role with either Bent or Agbonlahor in the middle would be amazing. Johnson would also be an excellent signing I think. I'd love to see Milner return but I can't really see that happening, unless it's on loan.

Yeah Sturridge would be a great buy in my opinion. As far as attacking options go, as you said we're not in bad shape, addressing that area should be behind sorting out the defense and centre-mid. But i'd like to see us buy at least one striker as Bent is really our only goalscorer and obviously we saw this season that when he gets injured there's nobody to step up, Gabby can't be relied upon for goals and Heskey's gone so we've got little back-up. Weimann could break through properly this season though.

Johnson could be a great buy, as I said we've got wingers, but Johnson would be a guaranteed starter and would really add something to the team. I have total faith that N'Zogbia will come good, he's a great player and I really want him to get back to his best whilst with us, but who knows. Also Albrighton, i'm a big fan of his, but like N'Zogbia he's just not been performing. So I wouldn't object at all to bringing in more options, especially Adam Johnson. But I do hope that N'Zogbia and Albrighton's performances last season were purely down to Mcleish and the awful way he had them playing.

(Original post by boumavilla)
I like the ideas, but think of the wages!!

haha, well i'm not saying we should sign them all, although that would be nice. But with the cuts we've made this season we should definitely have a bit of money to work with for wages. Hopefully including enough for a couple of higher earning players that can come straight into the team.
Seeing as the likes of Heskey, Cuellar and Guzan have gone, freeing up 120k+, plus Young, Downing and Luke Young last summer who were all on 40-65k, Habib Beye was also earning 40k despite doing nothing. So the wage bill is way way down from this time last year.

Sturridge and Johnson are on something like 90k p/w so would probably have to take a cut, it depends on how much they want first team football I guess, especially after both missing out on Euros most likely for that reason. The rest though earn within our wage bracket i'd say. Other than Cardozo who is reportedly on 70k p/w, which is only 5k more than the highest amount we currently pay, but i'm sure he'd expect a wage cut unless he's going to move to some rich foreign club. The English team thought to be most interested in him though is Everton, and i'm sure we could out pay them! I'm unsure how they plan to pay for transfer fee or the wages tbh

[jackf1337]

(Original post by Cll_ws)
Yeah Sturridge would be a great buy in my opinion. As far as attacking options go, as you said we're not in bad shape, addressing that area should be behind sorting out the defense and centre-mid. But i'd like to see us buy at least one striker as Bent is really our only goalscorer and obviously we saw this season that when he gets injured there's nobody to step up, Gabby can't be relied upon for goals and Heskey's gone so we've got little back-up. Weimann could break through properly this season though.

Johnson could be a great buy, as I said we've got wingers, but Johnson would be a guaranteed starter and would really add something to the team. I have total faith that N'Zogbia will come good, he's a great player and I really want him to get back to his best whilst with us, but who knows. Also Albrighton, i'm a big fan of his, but like N'Zogbia he's just not been performing. So I wouldn't object at all to bringing in more options, especially Adam Johnson. But I do hope that N'Zogbia and Albrighton's performances last season were purely down to Mcleish and the awful way he had them playing.

Well upfront we have Bent, Gabby, Weimann and Delfouneso. Bent will get us goals, Weimann is looking sharp, Gabby has gone stale and the Fonz hasn't really had a fair crack of the whip. I would probably look into loaning out one of the youngsters and maybe giving Gabby a loan or something, should we bring in a figure like Sturridge. I say this because the two striker formations (well mainly 442) are severely outdated and I feel we need to stretch to a more elaborate formation such as 4231 where the midfield is layered, harder to breakdown, better for passing and doesn't get outnumbered by only playing a 4 man system.

I too have faith in N'Zogbia and Albrighton for the upcoming season. Note how they succeeded under attacking play when N'Zogbia was at Wigan and Albrighton played under Houiller. The negativity of McLeish didn't suite their attacking styles at all. Remember the Hleb quotes? Well he was a winger, and spoke of almost being bypassed and told to chase long balls. It doesn't work and is a waste of talent.
I think Lambert needs a marquee signing and that Adam Johnson (even if on loan) could be just that.

[Joluk]

I think Adam Johnsons pretty underrated, would love to get him. Moses as well would be a good signing, could link up well behind Bent.

I have faith in Zog and Alrighton as well, Zog was fantastic at wigan, and albrighton had some fantastic games in the 10/11 season. Lets hope Lambert gets the best out of them.

Say what you like about petrov, but he was a fantastic captain, i think we need someone to fill in that role.

[Cll_ws]

(Original post by Joluk)
Say what you like about petrov, but he was a fantastic captain, i think we need someone to fill in that role.

Makoun should be given a chance (in that position, not as captain), he's a great player who wasn't given much of a chance first time round. He's only played 8 games for us, yet some people feel they can already pass judgement on him, which I think is crazy. He has years of Champions League experience and played for a top European club before us, he's exactly what we need.


I noticed Kranjcar has signed for Kiev as well, guess we can rule him out! shame.

[boumavilla]

(Original post by Cll_ws)
Makoun should be given a chance (in that position, not as captain), he's a great player who wasn't given much of a chance first time round. He's only played 8 games for us, yet some people feel they can already pass judgement on him, which I think is crazy. He has years of Champions League experience and played for a top European club before us, he's exactly what we need.


I noticed Kranjcar has signed for Kiev as well, guess we can rule him out! shame.

I like Makoun. Same reasons you said, plus he's good at his through balls and can play deep, which might be something that can come in handy for Paul Lambert's stlye. He enjoys playing 4-1-2-1-2 as a diamond, so Makoun can sit deep and mop up.

I just hopes he gets rid of some of the players that aren't as passionate as they once were. Agbonlahor to Sunderland might seem a good move (maybe on loan), but it depends whether he wants to leave his club.

[Aust1n]

Gabby will never leave.

[hogso]

Thing with Gabby is, if he ever were to leave, his new club would have to build an entire housing estate for all his kids and wimin. I don't know if anyone would be willing to go that far.

[darrylhunter77]

Gabby will eventually come good again. He just needs to reinvigorate his passion and get some decent service/attacking support from the midfield and I think he'll get that under Lambert. The guy is Villa through and through, wouldn't want him to leave anyway.

[boumavilla]

I hope that under Lambert he's played up front with Bent or someone else. I personally like a 4-3-3, but that wouldn't suit Gabby so much as he really doesn't play well on the wing imo.

[hogso]

Kit is released online tomorrow at midnight. There havent been any leaks, but the Macron behind the scenes videos give a pretty good idea of what it's going to be like. Striped collar, blue body, claret arms, gold trim (at the bottom of the shirt at least), quite small 'macron men' on the shoulders, and an embossed rampant Lion on the back. Seen some pretty convincing mock ups, it looks good.

Also no word on the colour of the away yet, but rumours remain abound that it will be green.

Tickets are available from next week for Lambert's first game on the touchline for us at Burton Albion in July. I should be going, elligible for a ticket on the first day so should be alright with getting one.

[Cll_ws]

(Original post by hogso)
Striped collar, blue body, claret arms, gold trim

Do you mean claret body and blue arms?

The mock-ups i've seen look quite nice, and the supposed green away kit also looks good

http://astonvilla-views.com/2012/06/...on-sense-avfc/

http://astonvilla-views.com/2012/06/...-mock-up-avfc/

[Phalanges]

Any news yet on the Petrov testimonials? I'd like to get a ticket for that.

[hogso]

(Original post by Cll_ws)
Do you mean claret body and blue arms?

Quite right

(Original post by Phalanges)
Any news yet on the Petrov testimonials? I'd like to get a ticket for that.

Doesnt seem like there's going to be one, this summer at least. I think a testimonial would be more apt if he were to announce officially that he was retiring. As it stands he would like to return, if possible. Would be great to see some sort of Villa XI v Celtic XI, or maybe even a Villa & Celtic XI vs Bulgaria XI though, and I'd like to think it'd be a sell out at VP if it were to happen.

[boumavilla]

(Original post by Cll_ws)
Do you mean claret body and blue arms?

The mock-ups i've seen look quite nice, and the supposed green away kit also looks good

http://astonvilla-views.com/2012/06/...on-sense-avfc/

http://astonvilla-views.com/2012/06/...-mock-up-avfc/

I like the home kit mock-up; but when I first saw the away kit, first thing I said was "euurrghh"