January Transfer Window - The Verdict.

[Risso]

He's backing himself to get a lot out of what he's got, and I admire that. It's a risk, as you said, but we've made funds available to managers in the past and they've bought for the sake of it - Bruce in his first window buying Hogan was the classic example. He bought him because he could, not because he needed to. Maybe the same last January with Digne and Coutinho?

I really hope we can keep our momentum going for the rest of the season - finishing in the bottom half now would be a huge disappointment.

Digne was a definite upgrade on Matt Targett who now can't get into the Newcastle side. Coutinho was brilliant for his first ten games and I still hope Emery can get a tune out of him. Getting the most out of your players is a great ability to have as a manager, so why unnecessarily reduce the pool of players from which you can do that?

[Bully2345]

Not inspiring but definitely not a disaster. For how many years have we had a bomb squad that we must spend an unhealthy amount of time trying to shift? It feels like we've trimmed the fat and hopefully Nakamba and Sanson have good spells and are easier to sell in the summer.

We are vulnerable to injuries but I'm not entirely sure that things would be any different had we kept hold of people like Sanson and Nakamba. If we lose two or three in midfield, Emery clearly backs himself to find solutions, whether that be moving people into new positions or giving the youth some minutes. I don't think that leaves us much different to having Sanson and Nakamba in midfield.

Ings is the one that upsets people but I think we've got decent value for someone at his age and he clearly wasn't in the plans. Again, a Watkins injury makes things difficult but it would make things difficult with Ings in the squad too as he clearly wasn't the type of player Emery wants. He'll back himself to come up with something using Duran, Bailey, Traore and anyone else he may move further forward (McGinn, Coutinho maybe).

I think that it's time to accept that Archer's future is probably elsewhere unless something dramatic changes. Gregg Evans saying a striker will be targeted in the summer so Archer would be 4th choice unless they have a dramatic change of heart.

[chrisw1]

Not as good as we hoped but nowhere near as bad as some are suggesting.

The only outgoing that has weakened us is Ings, Bert coming back has fixed the lack of options for Baileys spot and Duran looks like a good option to cover Watkins.

Overall I'd say the squad is slightly stronger than the start of the window and not bloated with players who weren't playing.

I do think we're a couple of players light of where we want to be but I don't think that's due to a lack of backing but rather Emery deciding to wait on players. I think we'll be back in for Williams and Guendouzi in the summer.

I hope this is right, but i'll be less patient in the next window.

You'll be called a bedwetter too then

[Small Rodent]

Ings seemed happy to go to West Ham, so I'm sure he and the manager had had "the talk", and it was just sooner rather than later.

[kipeye]

I think moving players on is just as important as recruiting. At least we have a manager that wants to improve the players we have and it is worth persevering with every one of the squad we have currently. My main gripe about Gerrard was that virtually all the players went backwards under him when he inherited the best group since Martin O'Neill arrived.

[TaxDodger]

I think we're perhaps being a little dramatic. I don't think any promises have been broken or ambitions amended, the players Emery wanted just presumably weren't avaliable at any form of logical price. It would have been great to sign 3/4 quality players and have a serious crack at Europe in the second half of the season, but there's no point signing people if they aren't able to improve the squad.

I understand the argument that it's always the next transfer window with Villa, but this is the first transfer window with a manager of Emery's quality, so I'm not too disappointed that we're (presumably) waiting until the summer before making many serious additions to the squad. Particularly considering some of the shite we've panic signed in January in recent seasons.

[rougegorge]

I just think that if we had know January 1st that we would only bring in Moreno and Duran, I think the general reaction would have been one of disappointment.

Hopefully we will continue to improve, but given the impetus that we have had climbing up the table and with a renowned manager in place, I think an opportunity has been missed to strengthen from a relative position of strength. 

I don't know enough yet about the two new players to know if they will be a success, or whether Diego Carlos will be good once fully fit, but the squad lacks depth and if we do get losses of form, some injuries or suspensions later on, the club can't really complain about bad luck.

[Legion]

Not inspiring but definitely not a disaster. For how many years have we had a bomb squad that we must spend an unhealthy amount of time trying to shift? It feels like we've trimmed the fat and hopefully Nakamba and Sanson have good spells and are easier to sell in the summer.

We are vulnerable to injuries but I'm not entirely sure that things would be any different had we kept hold of people like Sanson and Nakamba. If we lose two or three in midfield, Emery clearly backs himself to find solutions, whether that be moving people into new positions or giving the youth some minutes. I don't think that leaves us much different to having Sanson and Nakamba in midfield.

Ings is the one that upsets people but I think we've got decent value for someone at his age and he clearly wasn't in the plans. Again, a Watkins injury makes things difficult but it would make things difficult with Ings in the squad too as he clearly wasn't the type of player Emery wants. He'll back himself to come up with something using Duran, Bailey, Traore and anyone else he may move further forward (McGinn, Coutinho maybe).

I think that it's time to accept that Archer's future is probably elsewhere unless something dramatic changes. Gregg Evans saying a striker will be targeted in the summer so Archer would be 4th choice unless they have a dramatic change of heart.

Archer's potential future career at Villa is far from over.

[Smithy]

I can only think four people have fat fingers and accidentally pressed "Brilliant" in the poll.  I would give the club 8/10 for the outgoings, and maybe 3/10 for the incomings.  Like loads of others, I think we've left ourselves badly exposed to problems when injuries appear, as they inevitably will.  I can see us having one or two VERY makeshift looking line-ups before the season is out.

I trust the coaching staff, and I hope that behind the scenes they're not too unhappy with the lack of signings.  It now simply has to be a massive summer for us on recruitment.  January definitely feels like an opportunity missed, given our form and league position.

A top half finish and a bit of form carried into the summer and all will be forgiven.

[ozzjim]

I think had Archer been in the building yesterday, he probably wouldn't have been allowed to go following us not getting a replacement for Ings.

As it is, for his development 6 months starting in a promotion push should really help him, and he's clearly got something when you see the reaction to his performance at the weekend.

For us, the Ings debate was settled for Emery against Leeds I reckon. He came on and 3-4 times was needed to sprint to get to a ball first and help us retain possession. He looked like he was doing a comedy impression of Bad Grampa on a zimmer he was so slow, and that just wasn't good enough.

Getting Bertie back is a decent option once fit, he's a good size and started out as an out and out striker, so could play there if needed, and let's face it, if he hits any form he's fun to watch.

This summer has become massive for the owners though. Its the summer where Kamara, Martinez, Ramsey, Luiz etc will be looking at our business to assess if we really are ambitious, or just like saying it.

[brontebilly]

He's backing himself to get a lot out of what he's got, and I admire that. It's a risk, as you said, but we've made funds available to managers in the past and they've bought for the sake of it - Bruce in his first window buying Hogan was the classic example. He bought him because he could, not because he needed to. Maybe the same last January with Digne and Coutinho?

I really hope we can keep our momentum going for the rest of the season - finishing in the bottom half now would be a huge disappointment.

Digne was a definite upgrade on Matt Targett who now can't get into the Newcastle side. Coutinho was brilliant for his first ten games and I still hope Emery can get a tune out of him. Getting the most out of your players is a great ability to have as a manager, so why unnecessarily reduce the pool of players from which you can do that?

Digne was no better than Targett in that crazy Gerrard formation, definitely a worse defender too. The fact Targett can't get into a CL chasing Newcastle team is neither here nor there (think he has been injured recently anyway?). By already buying a new left back Emery has made clear what he thinks of Digne (and I think without rapid improvement Matt Cash could be in the same camp soon). I think Digne will be out the door in the summer.

Coutinho was no better than Buendia and has been utterly rubbish for ages. He was fine as a punt on loan last January but it was a lazy vanity signing from Gerrard to get him in permanently last summer. I'd be stunned if he turns his career around in the second half of the season.

Maybe we were all hoping for a January like when we got Young and Carew in but I don't think those kind of options were available this time.

[LeeB]

Signing Coutinho only created an issue with playing him or Buendia, it solved absolutely nothing. Exactly the kind of shitshow recruitment that led Everton to where they are now.

So many things from that short reign, right from the moment Gerrard was linked, felt instinctively wrong, but you love your team and want to hope for the best outcome so you try and convince yourself it will be ok.

I'm probably doing the same thing now over transfer activity.

[Risso]

Why are people expecting the coming summer to be significantly better than the last few underwhelming summers?

[boozey182]

He's backing himself to get a lot out of what he's got, and I admire that. It's a risk, as you said, but we've made funds available to managers in the past and they've bought for the sake of it - Bruce in his first window buying Hogan was the classic example. He bought him because he could, not because he needed to. Maybe the same last January with Digne and Coutinho?

I really hope we can keep our momentum going for the rest of the season - finishing in the bottom half now would be a huge disappointment.

Digne was a definite upgrade on Matt Targett who now can't get into the Newcastle side. Coutinho was brilliant for his first ten games and I still hope Emery can get a tune out of him. Getting the most out of your players is a great ability to have as a manager, so why unnecessarily reduce the pool of players from which you can do that?

Yeah, I can't argue with that - Digne is better than Targett, and signing Coutinho was a major coup, so we'd have been silly not to. I guess my point was, those signings didn't make us a better team. Our form tailed off massively not long after they arrived, so did we need them? Or, rather, should we have made them our priority last January? Or did we just get them in because we could? Obviously, our problems in 2022 were much deeper than these two players - we had a very poor manager.

In terms of getting more out of a reduced pool of players - I don't know for sure, and I would have definitely preferred to have a couple of extra players in, but perhaps one of these is the case:

He only wants to work with players that can play how he wants to play - Ings/Sanson etc don't have the physical capabilities to do what he wants, so they are of no use to us.

A smaller squad could force more responsibility onto the players that we have, which could get better performances out of them

He's seen more in Duran/other youth players than he is letting on

Specific to Ings - his knee injury was being managed with shortened training sessions. His influence was going to tail off anyway - the £15m in the summer is much more useful than he was going to be for the next 4 months.

I don't know whether any of that will prove correct, but I think there is a little more to it than fewer players = worse results. It could all come crashing down with a freak injury to Watkins in training, or a nasty tackle in the first minute on Saturday. I hope it doesn't.

[LeeB]

Why are people expecting the coming summer to be significantly better than the last few underwhelming summers?

Because this one has a proven manager in charge?