Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Darren Moore backing Albion’s fight
Friday 2nd July 2010, 10:58AM BST.
Former Albion favourite Darren Moore believes the club is finally ready to hold its own in the Premier League.
The popular defender, part of the first wave of Hawthorns invaders in the top flight eight years ago, is stretching out his career with a two-year stint down in League Two at Burton Albion.
But Moore will be a regular visitor to his old stamping ground when his schedule allows and is confident that the Baggies can take up a permanent residence in the Premier League.
And the 36-year-old has cited this year’s defensive signings Gabriel Tamas and Pablo Ibanez as key reasons for his optimism.
He said: “They have a good enough squad to not only stay up, but get some good results and set a strong benchmark in the Premier League.
“They have the players. Those coming into Albion now are players that can step into the team straightaway. They’re not squad players, they are starters.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Tamas. After witnessing him first hand at the end of last season, this is a player that over the campaign has grown in stature and I like to see that on the pitch. He distributes the ball well and he defends well.
“The centre-half department is looking strong. They’ve identified three top centre-halves and I’m looking forward to seeing them all playing.
“I’ve seen Ibanez play on the TV and he looks a class act. When you play for a country such as Spain that many times then you have proven you are a good player. He will be a good acquisition.
“These are quality players that know how to use the ball well, keep hold of it and start building play from the back.
“He will certainly be a player who can do that.”
Albion have also collected on the £5.5million transfer fee agreed with Fulham for former captain Jonathan Greening.
Greening spent his first season at Craven Cottage on loan, but with a binding deal for a permanent transfer in place to be activated this summer.
But the money has already been accounted for in the club’s budget and will not go into the transfer kitty.
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Looks as though I over-stepped the mark when I stated the money would buy us a couple of strikers. Ah well.
Cyrille you state: These are quality players who know how to use the ball well, keep hold of it and build from the back. May I add: our mid- field
is full of talented footballers. I mentioned this
in an earlier post about ENGLAND.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Our fans will expect too much from Ibanez. He hasn’t played for Spain for FOUR YEARS, he made EIGHT appearances at the start of last season and after that couldnt get on the bench, give the lad a chance but do not expect too much. Tamas has to make the step up and Olsson falls asleep and gets caught out in the championship aswell as his well documented problems with the supporters. We need an experienced Premier league centre half.
I think we are quite a few signings short at the moment and lets hope they have Premier league experience.
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(2)
y’know, I can smell dingle dung, can you?. Stupid.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Sorry Cyrille as I’ve had three posts rejected, one being the England post I mentioned in post (1). Ah well, you can’t win them all, but it would be nice to draw a few.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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