Letting go isn't a problem for Martin O'Neill
Tuesday, 23 December 08, 09:02 AM · Comments (42)
Some people will say Martin O'Neill has made some questionable signings during his time at Villa but I am not one of them. That post is for a different day, this one is about the players he has let go.
Since taking control, O'Neill has let over twenty players leave the club. Some because they did not fit into the formation he wanted Villa playing, some because they did not have the right attitude and some because it was simply just their time to go.
Of the twenty or so players that have gone I would argue that only one would still start and one other may have role to play at the club. Most have gone and proved to be what I think Martin O'Neill thought they were; average Premier League players or good Championship players.
Let us take a look at Bolton, a typical mid-table team team. They have three starters that were playing in claret and blue a few seasons ago. Agent Ridgewell is down the road and last time I looked, still good for a cock-up or two per game.
Steve Davis looked a good prospect but was ultimately too lightweight and finds himself in the tin-pot league north of the border, only getting a second stab at Premier League life because his former national team manager was in charge.
These are all players O'Neill was happy to let go, maybe with the exception of Cahill, who I think was chomping at the bit for first team football and without any assurances and falling behind Knightmare in the pecking order, he had no alternative but to leave.
Let's look at Eric Djemba-Djemba; does anyone really miss him? Or Patrik Berger with his penchant to shoot every time the ball came near him. Would any of you seriously take back Baros in exchange for Carew?
Whittingham and soon-to-depart Routledge have found their level, whilst Luke Moore will find it soon too. Aaron Hughes, deployed at right-back for Villa, would get nowhere near edging out Young or Cuellar.
Of all the players who have left Aston Villa Football Club, only Olof Mellberg would still start, and probably only Cahill would make the bench.
The point I’m making is that Martin O'Neill may not have proved himself with bringing players in, but if you look at letting players go, he is right up there with the likes of Arsene Wenger.
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42 Comments · Add yours
He was spot on with letting most of those players go except for Cahill and i also don't really understand getting rid of Angel when we didn't really have that much back up.
Good post Jonny.
I totally agree, however I maybe dont agree with Mellberg. Yes a villa legend but I wouldn't have him over Laursen or Davies.
Thoughts?
O'neill has been spot on with almost all of his sales. I agree Cahil was his one mistake, esp is Knight has to start n boxing day with laursen and ceullar injured. Mellberg wasn't up to him. Angel maybe but Harewood was good last season, but needs replacing now
Dead on Jonny, if Cuellar was used more in Central defense then at right or left back then Cahill would still be 4th choice behind Davies and Laursen also. It would be nice to still have him, but you are right he wanted to play. Does anyone have an update about Wilfred Bouma?
I agree as well-but is Cahill that good??I thought he got caught time and time again against Bolton.And he could only handball it when Laursen was set to score.....good but not that good and not enough pace.
Thoughts?
i stil think davis could hav improved under o'neill. lookin forward to jan wen we will hopefully strenghthen the squad. a fit ashton and mcgeady would do well for us me thinks
Reply to Dean Mitic:
Agree with you Dean. Laursen is a much better defender and Davies, in time, can be.
Bouma back in late Jan. (Scheduled)
Cahill was an excellent prospect and is now proving himself a fine premier league centre half. Bolton fans I know love him. But he wasn't prepared to wait his chance anymore and wanted guarantees of first team football which MON couldn't give and so he was sold. Yes he is better than Zat Knight but Knight is happy sitting on the bench as 4th choice centre half, Cahill wasn't.
lets see if he can continuee to get rid of players which arent good enough, knight, harewood, osbourne and salifou to mention a few which we as mere supporters of the villa can clearly see are not up to it simple..
Has anyone heard anymore about Laursen?
I agree with his sales... cahill could also be better under o'neill
but now im lookin forwar to arsenal and january...
maybe defoe and antonio valencia? would fit well in wouldnt it? or maybe owen
hey guys, a little of the current topic, i've decided to go to the game on saturday, but for some reason i can't do it though the website, are all the tickets sold? also tried the ticket office but there shut, please please help cheers
Reply to tosh22:
try booking for friday's game..lol
good article and completely agree!
when to baggies tickets go on sale, wanna go to the villa vs wba game!
sold out fella. tried to get tickets at the weekend. I think MON has done a stellar job in clearing out the dead wood. I agree cahill is/was decent but we got 5 mil for him, and i think that is good business.
cheers guys, AP68, DAMN U AND UR CAT LIKE VISION, ITS THE TV 4 ME THEN
Good idea for an article. Agree with you mate. No one is perfect and under the circumstances both Cahill and Mellberg wanted to leave and there was nothing MON could do about it.
I am happy for Smiler though. He's getting a good run of games and deserves it in my opinion.
Dean Mitic - Wouldn't have him over Laursen or Davies either but what i was trying to say was if Mellberg stayed then Cuellar wouldn't have been signed and Olof would be playing RB instead.
_AP68_ - Agree completely, i'd ship all those players out but replacements are needed also, Osbourne is the only one who could become decent but he has a bloody long way to go on recent perfoemances.
Shame Berson never got a run, i thought he looked real class, had the ability to play exactly the right ball, and had a lovely touch, maybe not "athletic" enough for MoN. Djemba Djemba also had ability, he was superb for Odense at Villa Park, reckon his private life was a bit all over the place when he was here though.
Cahill could have been our best centre half since McGrath. Can't argue about anyone else MoN has let go.
*off topic but i suggest you click the link and scroll down half way til u see this:
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Goldie, I've seen these before. Problem is most of the offers are for the first time subscribers only, but hey - I've got a big family and loads of friends. Happy Christmas mate - and don't spend all your winnings in the same bar.
Despite the official site telling us that "A late decision on Martin Laursens availability will be made" a danish newspaper today write that he will be out for 3-4 weeks because of a swollen knee. They are quoting Martin who said "we have decided to rest it for 3-4 weeks". Really bad news. Thank god Adebayor is banned.
Wish that we'd kept Angel a bit longer, but I suppose it was a mutual agreement for him to leave. He would have had a lot more to offer than Harewood!
should have got rid of zat knight, gary cahill has looked quality for bolton!
Cheers Andy merry chrimbo to you 2:razzx:
It's worth doing and my babies mother has already spent it on a new do, the price of a few highlights these days is #-o
Totally agree with MON's exits. Cahill is the only blip.
2-0 again!
Switching to arrivals, I'd like to see a cheeky bid for Arshavin. He's set to leave in Jan with a £20m price tag. We've got the ambition, Europe, and most importantly the cash to get him. This is obviously way up there on my Christmas wish list - along with 1 night with Shazza Osbourne - but why not? Eventually we have to start bidding for these "top four" players to move us on, I think as we're sat 3rd and playing good, attractive footy, this should be sooner rather than later.
Really looking forward to Friday
UTV
i always though pavlachenko was a better player tbh and hes not exactly set the prem on fire...
big money name do not mean succes...it helps from time to time but not for mon
I agree big names dont mean success, but sooner or later we're going to be bidding for this type of player. Our youth set up is one of the best in the land, but you cant rely in that year in year out. How many have actually made it in the prem? Not enough to warrant never bidding big money for big names. The top 4 do both, if we want to get in there and more importantly, stay there, we going to need to buy proven top players. Im not saying we need to go out and break the bank over and over, but the extra bit of class we need, that spark to break down the Fulhams at home, will need to be bought in. Arshavin I think fits the bill, and he's still young enough for MON to mould him into exactly what he wants.
UTV
Reply to Stocky:
Stocky, bless your heart, like the Villa you need to set your sights a little higher (I'm not talking about Arshavin)
Happy Christmas
Nice call churchil. Top Stuff, have to agree
.
Onto MON's exits, I don't disagree with any of them, except for maybe Mellberg and Cahill but as mentioned, they tended to be out of MON's hands. What I do disagree with however, is maybe the continual exit of players without a replacement. We have one of, if not the smallest squads in the PL yet MON has not replaced the players he has got rid off.
I'm not having a go at MON here, I think his work is exceptional but it is maybe something to think about. So like a fair number of posts on this excellent article I will just mention:
Thoughts ?
Onto Arshavin, apart of me wouldn't like him here. Don't get me wrong if he came I would be more then happy to see him playing for the Villa but something tells me this isn't a ''MON'' signing. It's more a Spurs signing, and when yu see where we are currently on the table, and were Spurs currently stand, I'd take a MON signing any day of the week. Redknapp or no Redknapp.
I agree to some degree with the sentiments made suggesting we need to buy big name players, but I don't think we need to spend ridiculous amounts of money to do so, and maybe the name doesn't need to be all that big. I mean Cuellar is probably one of the best centre backs in the PL - yet is playing on the right because we have so much depth - but we only spent something like £7-8mill on him, and to be honest, I had never heard of him before we signed him.
I think if MON was to go out and sign Arshavin it would suggest that his tactics in the trasnfer window only have limited effect. I wouldn't like to see that. I think MON has the potential to win many things with Villa doing things his way, and buyin an Arshavin, to me, isn't doing things his way. It may well be that this is the type of player MON craves in his team, but I'd hate to see MON change his approach in the window, buy big name players, and watch our dressing room lose its bond it has become renowned for in recent weeks.
Interesting post, but the sort of thing that can come back and bite you on the arse when both Whittingham and Routledge score against us for Cardiff next season.
ive said it before and i will say it again the best player for a good price 5-7 million around is podolski, and we havent even been mentioned with him, wtf he is quality and would come at a drop of a hat,
he has handed a transfer request in, has 6 months left on his contract and is young.
instead we are linked with a 1 season wonder..santa cruz, and other sick table players who, just because they are english are well over priced, which is the same can be said for defoe 15 million your havin a laugh
anyone remember Hendrie?
where is him now?
Reply to RIo:
Last I heard he was at Blackpool with Grayson his old mate from the Villa. Grayson has just gone to Leeds though so Hendrie could be off there maybe.
Agree that we shouldnt have got rid of cahill but the rest of the players we didnt need
i also think that the players o'neill has brought through have been good and some brilliant
ashley young- brill
carew-brill
shorey- can be good
luke young-good defender
carlos cueller- looks a classy defender
milner- going to be class
so i think that he has brought good players in as well
Reply to HectorFullone:
I thought i was the only one who thought Berson looked good - could tackle and passed better than just about any of our current midfield - albeit tended to play the easy ball.
While on the subject of under appreciated players, I can't believe the stick J'Loyd gets. While his form deteriated there was a period round 03 - 04 where he was brilliant for us and for a time he could take difficult balls better than any other member of the squad. He got messed around switching sides and seemed to go down hill after looking like he was going to be a top defender
Merry Christmas
I MISS NONE OF THESE PLAYERS, WELL APART FROM MELLBERG THAT IS, JUST NEEDS TO FUCK OFF OSBOURNE,HAREWOOD,KNIGHT AND SALIFOU AND REPLACE THEM WITH QUALITY AND WE'DE HAVE A DAMN GOOD SQUAD.
vogra has it spot on! why osbourne was given another contract is beyond me, fuckin useless, i would add reo coker to list as well, spins in circles, loses the ball, occassional decent game.
but we should get replacements first.
i hope he has some early signings lined up, with west ham and portsmouth money problems we should take advantage, 2 good strikers a must.
if ever there was a season to break top four, it is this one, hell with the right attitude, players, guts and a little luck we could win the league ....... sorry guys, 2 much festive drink, got carried away!
Forget about Arshavin. I dont like the arrogance. Does anyone remember over the summer when his agent was quoted as saying he wouldnt be interested in going to somewhere like Aston Villa because he wanted a bigger club than us. He was angling for a move to Spurs at the time. Oh how we can laugh now.......
MON hasnt proved himself with players hes brought in???
i cant believe i just read that... out of how many players this season that have started premiership games were here before he arrived???
and look where we are in the league... Gosh.... u do come out with some sh*t!!!
martins brought in the players to make them get to that level... so of course hes proved it with letting players go AND bringing them in!!!