Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Albion’s Marek Cech eyed by Rennes
Tuesday 7th June 2011, 11:40AM BST.
Albion left-back Marek Cech could be offered an escape route from the Hawthorns by French club Rennes.
The Slovakia international has emerged as a possible target for the French top-flight side as they look to fill their left-back berth.
The Baggies took up their option to extend Cech’s contract, meaning the 28-year-old is tied to the club for another year.
But Cech is keen to leave unless he is assured of first-team football and Rennes have added him to their tlist of summer targets.
While Albion are content to keep Cech as a deputy for first-choice left-back Nicky Shorey, they would consider selling him at the right price.
The Baggies continued their own search for reinforcements today, as transfer target Zoltan Gera adopted a cagey stance on the prospects of a return to the Hawthorns.
The former Albion midfielder, who is in talks about a free transfer return after his contract at Fulham ended, refused to discuss his future but retains a fondness for the club.
He said: “I don’t want to talk about my future as yet as there is a lot to sort out. There is nothing more I can say about that at the moment.
“But it is correct to say I enjoyed my time at West Brom. I still love the club.”
However, the Baggies remain strong favourites to sign the 32-year-old for a second time, while the battle for Danny Graham’s signature remained wide open.
Last year’s Championship leading scorer has opened talks with Swansea after they had a £3.5million bid accepted by Watford, but several other clubs remain keen on the 25-year-old.
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Marek is desperate for regular football and you can’t knock him for that. I’l be sad to see him leave as he is a decent player – but Shorey should get the shirt when available – but we need a decent back up if cech leaves.
For our forward line – how about Sturridge on loan – he did ok last year and I think Chelsea will have other options.
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If we are serious about signing Graham I do hope we put up some form of fight in the next few days, I know we do business away from the spotlight but it would be a bit of a dig to the ribs if we were usurped by Swansea. I think Gera can bring nothing but good to the club, sure he is ageing but his record speaks for itself. After all look at Villa, they signed Pires, look at Beckham, neither of them have the legs anymore but you give them half a yard and they can send some killer balls in to feet. Lets not forget the man was in the Pepsi adverts alongside the worlds top stars!!
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BoingBoing 2 – I’m guessing you are being sarcastic but there are a couple of differences with the players you mention – Pires is 37 – 5 years older than gera, and Beckham couldn’t run when he was 21. Gera is only 32 and if he’s still fit he will be a decent addition to the squad.
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For me Cech’s not solid enough for a left-back at this level and doesn’t offer enough going forward to displace any of our wide midfielders so I think it’s best if he moves on and gets the first-team football he craves.
Happy- I think Coyle is desperate to take Sturridge back so if he was settled at Bolton perhaps that’s where he’ll go. Even if not, I imagine we’d do well to get near him as his stock seems to have risen recently, only Capello doesn’t seem to have noticed. On the plus side he’s from the Midlands, perhaps that would be a selling point.
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Gera is a very good addition IMO as we have sort of struggled without Dorrens who is our most creative and free attacking midfielder, although Jimmy has sort of helped on that front.
Gera has always been a hard working player and I know a few Fulham fans living in South west London and they are all puzzled why Hughes won’t play him.
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Just wanted to add to a previous discussion on the Simon Cox thread about England’s failure at international level – I think that our lack of players playing abroad is a major factor.
Look at the nations that do well – Brazil, Argentina, France and Spain – many of their players play abroad and nearly all of their managers have managed abroad – I can name on the fingers of one hand the english players who have succeded overseas in the last 10/15 years, and only Roy hodgson out of current english managers has tried his hand overseas.
The money available in the premier league probably means this will continue – but i think we will see no improvement till it changes.
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4 Warren.
Not surrisingly I agree about Cech. A lovely footballer but never looks quite fir for purpose in any position in this country. Sorry to see him go but it would make space for Dan to bring in a young LB as cover for Shorey.
I think the Sturridge idea is a non-starter. I’ve seen him mentioned on the dark side along with N’Zogbia. I read in the paper today that Charles is available at £8mill but wants £55 grand a week in wages. I think we still have to look for the unpolished diamonds rather than the ready made stars.
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Sorry I can’t seem to tell my r’s from my t’s.
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We still have Joe Mattock on the books, don’t we? Not sure I’d be happy with him as cover for Shorey, though…
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Wasn’t this rumour around last transfer window with his brother claiming interest only for absolutely nothing to come of it? hmm…
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Happy
It’s certainly an interesting debate. I personally just don’t think we’re adaptable enough. I remember playing under-10 level football, as a defender all we were asked to do was clear our lines and cobble together some sort of attempt to play offside, which invariably failed!!
How is a kid meant to develop when you’re hoofing it every time you get it, on a full-size pitch with a ball you can’t get off the floor? There was just way too much focus on winning. Surely it should be about playing with smaller balls on smaller pitches with smaller numbers with an emphasis on using the ball better. If a mistake leads to a goal, so be it but at least we develop technically.
We turn up at these major tournaments and can’t keep the ball for more than 5 passes. All our best players are explosive rather than being brilliant technically and are far better suited when they have more functionality around them at club level. Until it changes from the bottom I can’t see us being a global force anytime soon. That said, World Cup’s a knock-out competition and anything can happen……
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I wasn’t suggesting we sign Sturridge – but if he was prepared to play on loan at Bolton I think he would consider us – as long as Chelski pay a part of his wage.
I like cech for his obvious football talent – but agree he is suspect when being run at – shame cos he was nearly the real deal.
TRBH – surely its your r’s from your elbow ??
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Jack the Hat.
From your post on previous thread, Ive just found this one from Brummierobwolves.
‘At the end of the day since the 3M’s have been here we have recruited the following that are worth much more than what we paid:-
Foley, Zubar, Stearman, Jarvis, Kightly, Edwards, Henry, SEB, Doyle, Hammill (total cost £14m but now worth £40m)’
Now I like a good joke as much as the next bloke but £40m ???????????
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TRBH
Once Joleon Lescott, Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Scott Parker, Charles N’Zogbia, Daniel Sturridge and Robbie Keane all seal their dream moves to Wolverhampton, this Wulfs team will be a force to be reckoned with…..
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but does Gonzalo not play on the left side of defence for Chile?
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No Happy, I’m serious, I am aware the players I mentioned are a few years older but my comparisons were all based on the negativity I have seen from some fans stating Gera is over the hill, I wanted to merely state that if these players can still provide strikekrs then there is no reason the Magical Magyar can’t do the same, even given he is a spring chicken in age comparison to the aforementioned players. As I saw someone state previously a player of hsi experience will be a great acquisition for a relatively young squad.
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We must have quite a few good footballers, as all sorts of clubs want them, Brilliant. Wonder how many want wolves fantastic players, well according to Laughingwolf. Missed the Japan match, went over the chase with the dog. Ah well, can’t win ‘em all.
(13)
Bully,
That’s as good as my joke-up. Oh, from now on to save time, my “wolves joke of the day” is renamed >>> Joke-up.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Forgot to mention, whilst on hol’s, had a walk along the Jurassic coast. Sure I saw Marcus Hahnemann and Jody Craddock!.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Joke-ups coming thick and fast now. wolves aim to sell Vokes, Halford and Maierhofer. Got to be worth three Green shield stamps, In my opinion.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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17, Uncle Jack, Have you ever thought of stand-up ? I think you would have a very bright future on the circuit. It may be worth concidering.
Love your Wolves “joke-up” idea. So glad Wolves arnt even your main rivals. You must have reduced Villa ( YOUR main rivals) to dust with your concise analogies of boot on leather, which you then cleverly turn into razer sharp humour that then bedazzels your chosen victims into rib tickling surrender,
the strength of which we have not had the pleasure of witnessing since the demise of Peter Cook.
Dont ever stop, you make so many laugh.
Joke-up idea; A modern classic !
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Just read the Dan Ashworth article and I’ve got to say it left me thinking ‘can’t wait for next season.’
Must hang on to this bloke.
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TRBH…thank you for your kind comment on the other thread. The fact that no one picked up my comments, either to ridicule or to compliment them gave me an inferiority complex, but we all know about those when we are compared to Wolves don’t we.
Warren…I agree with what you are saying about modern English football. I think the same can be said for cricket. They introduced one day matches to make it exciting for the fans and we lost the ability to play test cricket. You are right that we need to get back to basics at grass roots level.
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(21)
Bully,
Dan is the perfect Jigsaw piece between Mr. Peace and Mr. Hodgson. Glad he’s put the record straight, as too many fans seemed to be oblivious to his status within the club. Now they know he works like a Beaver in the background.
Long may it last Mr.Ashworth.
(20)
Odd Fellow,
Aren’t, razor, considering. You’re as bad as me with your spelling. Buy yourself a little ABC book from Mother Care.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Marek – you looked petrified on your debut at Arsenal and I’ve seen no sign since (apart from a home game v Spurs a couple of seasons ago) that you’ve discovered real courage. You would have been our defensive/midfield star at any point between 1991 and 1999. But these, thankfully, are different times. Your agent keeps on demanding regular first team football. The moment has come to find it elsewhere.
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18 Jack-
welcome back.
I’ve got a Brother who lives down East Devon,so we go travelling by the Jurassic coast a couple of times a year,love the place.
Anyway,you get funnier.
I loved it last week when you were praising Kawashima,the Japanese goalkeeper.What did you say?-
‘he’s brave as anything,and gets into new positions faster than you can say ‘kama sutra’.Brilliant.
For those not familiar with the Kama Sutra,let’s say it’s a sort of Indian cookery book.
So next time you’re in private with your partner,say to her-
‘how’d you fancy something hot and spicy from out the kama sutra?’.
Let us know what she says……….
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22 Medway-
I did read your post,and found it both intelligent and fair-minded,but there was a lot of activity from other people at the time,so things can get a bit blurred when everyone chips in on busy threads.
I think most would agree that ‘the more the merrier’ applies here,so keep posting.
If nobody replies to you,it’s probably because they understand what you say,but just nod at the laptop in agreement.
On the other hand,when no one replies to me,it’s usually because they haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about.
So keep sharing your wisdom.
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22 MEDWAY
Sorry to be pedantic but i thought England won the last two Ashes series !!!! is that not Test Cricket ????
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TRBH ‘r’s and ‘t’s that close? May I call you ‘shorty’ ?
Jack, may I remind you that LoneWolf has an IQ of 130 ? He’s on to Janet and John reading material now. I was always rather chuffed at being recorded as 131-132 in the Army and Industry, but somehow the pleasure’s gone out of it. Same brains as a dog-head.
Ah, The Kama Sutra. We went wild with delight when that first came out. Not sure about my choice of words there…’came out’ has strange connotations these days.
Warren raises a good point. The number of times I’ve shouted about defenders who pass a ball back to a keeper to hoof anywhere, when they could hoof it forward anywhere themselves…ah, but we want them to play a cultured pass to a team mate, which leads to Marek Cech who can’t get a game because he isn’t a hard tackler and doesn’t hoof the ball forward but does play a cultured pass to a team mate, which is where I came in.
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I think an important aspect of Dan Ashworth’s role was highlighted in that article, one that often gets over-looked, but as a mediator between Chairman and Manager on a personal level. I know this may sound obvious, but for all JP’s good work, he did have a tendency to fall out with managers. His relationship with RDM and RH has never really been called into question like it was with his predecessors, I wonder if this is pure coincidence or DA’s presence, acting almost as a buffer between the two, has helped.
Wall Heath
I could be wrong but I got the impression Medway was referring to the rise in prominence on one-day cricket many years ago rather than just the recent onset of 20-20 etc?
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Changing the subject,it was great to see Simon Cox come off the bench to score for the Irish Republic last night.
He’s scored twice in his first four internationals,and the Sky interviewer said to the Irish Manager afterwards-
‘you’ve had a great spell of four wins in eighteen days-would you say the emergence of Simon Cox as an International is the highlight of this very successful period?’.
Fantastic.
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WARREN
Might have misunderstood his point , however i do not think England forgot how to play test cricket , they just played sides better than them at the time .We now have a strong side were one or two of the others have slipped back eg Australia.
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Warren, people like JP and Roy get where they are because they are determined and, in crude terms, want their own way. Money-led folks are often quite ruthless and successful, but in our own interests we get the benefit of a balanced healthy club, (The Wulfies can claim the same). Roy will be interested in cash too. He’ll want to sign Ronaldo if he can and some on here would encourage him, regardless of the consequences. Old-fashioned weighing scales always had a ‘sharp-tipped’ middle bit so that sudden forces at one end could be quickly countered by sudden force at t’other end. That’s Dan’s role as I see it. He needs to be sharp.
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29 Warren-
hope you enjoyed your trip to Madrid.
So you didn’t get Casillas to return with you?
Oh well,looks like we’ll have to stick with Scotty.
That should please Max.
Morning Max-
apologising for being pedantic?
You really are a new man these days………
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Wall Heath
I think you’re right that the Aussies have slipped back, that side with McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Hayden, Ponting, Waugh etc in their pomp would probably beat anybody though I imagine.
Cyril
Dan certainly has been sharp thus far, long may it continue.
CR78
Cheers, had a great time thanks, a really lovely city. I found Iker Casillas, but in a game in La Liga last season he accidentally sliced a backpass into touch and expressed a concern that if he repeated that next season, his reputation might be damaged by 8,000 Brummie Road Enders claiming on message boards that Boaz Myhill must be a better option.
On the subject of the Spanish, did anybody else see Borja Valero come on for Spain at the weekend to spend the last half hour sat in a midfield alongside Xabi Alonso and Andres Iniesta? I can’t help think we’ll live to regret this one. If Jordan Henderson is worth £20m it makes you wonder…….
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34 Warren
In all honesty,I could never see anything wrong with Valero.
I watched him closely a few times,and he looked quite good to me-his work rate was high,he rarely lost possession,and his distribution was good.
I think there were two problems-
1)He came as a record signing,so there was a very high expectation from the fans,and
2)He was an attacking midfielder,and I can’t remember seeing him score for us (although I don’t recall him having many opportunities within range of goal).
It could be that there was a problem for him trying to adjust to English football,or maybe he just wasn’t used to his strengths.
Either way,he seems much happier playing in Spain,so if he stays there,and we ‘get our money back’,or even make a profit on him,we can put it behind us and move on.
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28 Cyril.
I’m getting worried now. You say.
‘Ah, The Kama Sutra. We went wild with delight when that first came out.’
I believe it first came out in around the year 600 AD. Just how old are you?
29 Warren.
You’re not suggesting that the Pedant’s revolting are you?
Sorry Max.
34 Warren.
For one wonderful minute when I read your post I thought you were going to say, ‘I found Iker Casillas but he’d heard Laughing Wolf had said Wolves were after him so we had no chance.’
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CR78
I think another significant problem with Valero was that he was often sat in a 5-man midfield where the one striker was Ishmael Miller, Roman Bednar or Marc Antoine-Fortune, or put another way, nobody mobile, pacy or agile enough to offer a viable out-ball as often as they perhaps could, stifling Valero’s passing ability by too-often forcing him into crab-football.
I watched a bit of Valero against the USA, whilst being Spanish he would enjoy the Xavi crab pass, he also seemed notably keen to try and feed his front players whenever he got the ball. With Mulumbu behind and Odemwingie in front of him as opposed to the aforementioned, we might have seen a notable difference. I guess we’ll never know, but his touch and technique were unquestionable.
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CR 78
Good Morning mate , no just as argumentative as ever i’m afraid . As for your Valero comment about seeing nothing wrong , well could this be that when he played for us he made no assists , did not score and his tackling was powder puff , ie he did a big fat nothing . Good job Peace has got some money back on him.
I take it from an earlier thread you were not overly impressed with Danny Graham , not bothered he’s gone to Swansea ???
Real Bully
Your Pedant’s joke was terrible but you are forgiven as always.
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TRBH
If I’d thought of it first I would’ve written it!! They do already have USA’s number 3 though and I’m not sure Casillas’ siesta, wine and tapas lifestyle fits in with Mick’s ‘put a shift in’ policy. I’m more worried about Mick luring Simon Cox away with a dream move now he’s come to prominence with the Barnsley-born boss’s beloved Ireland.
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38 Max
when I said I could see nothing wrong with Valero,I mentioned that when watching him closely,he showed signs of good natural abilty,but seemed to somehow be out of place in the Albion team at that time.
The fact that Spain’s currently the top football country (World Champions and Champion’s League winners),and Valero is a hit over there,and played for his country last week,must show that the guy has got something in his locker,don’t you think?
As for Graham,I’ve mentioned him on the latest story about Peter O.
By the way,Kev should now be over here for a few days,and said he’d be in the Vine early tomorrow night,so if you fancy a pint,you’re welcome to come,as is anyone else.
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Glad we haven’t thrown loads of money at the Danny Graham transfer. Last year was his first prolific season, I doubt he would flourish as much in the Prem…although you just know he’ll bag one against us.
Cech is a good back up player but for me he’s too attack minded to play full back and doesn’t have the attributes to play as high up the pitch as Thomas and Brunt do in our 5 man midfield. In a four man midfield he’d probably do quite well on the wing.
Re Valero, he’s been fantastic in Spain yet again but we have to remember that La Liga is a much slower pace with less emphasis on bone crunching challenges so he has the time on the ball to utilise his undoubted talent – in the Prem you just don’t have that luxury when you have a Scott Parker snapping at your heels every second or a Karl Henry trying to take your head off with a slide tackle!
Remember last year when we were linked with Matt Mills? Well apparently the dogheads are all crowing about him and want him next season. Might be worth another shout for us as a replacement for Pablo who seems to have suffered just like Valero?
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36 TRBH-
If Cyril’s been around since 600 A.D.,and uses the Kama Sutra,it must be a bloody good exercise book,because he looked about 50 when I met him.
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OK, you win. I’ll admit it. I wrote the Kama Sutra and had problems as cameras hadn’t been
invented. I knew they would be of course, but what to do in the meantime? You try holding position 37 for an hour while an artist makes life-like drawings! Golly, it was fun. There will be an edition 2 with moving pictures once the censors approve. Send your money for advance copies to me. Only £5 for Baggies and £10 for Wulfies.
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Wall Heath Baggie…I was up in your neck of the woods last Saturday as I had to pick up my son from Keele (was in Newcastle under Lyme wearing my 80′s striped shirt and saw a fellow Baggie outside the Stoke City shop) and UI’d picked up the Mother in Law who lives in Wordsley. But i digress. I didn’t mention that I was talking about when one day cricket first came in a long time ago (I think I was either still in school or had just started work as a Post Office Telephone Engineer so we are talking ancient).
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44 Medway.
Don’t worry, Max could start an argument in an empty house. He’s renowned for it.
Sorry Max.
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Cyril
Holding position 37- Do you mean remaining in position 37 for a long time or the 37th of the positions in which you hold the lady down? If the latter it sounds very non-consensual, I wouldn’t be confessing to it in a book……!!
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