Strengths:
Counter-Attacking - With Agbonlahor and Weimann out wide and Delph in the centre, Villa have a lot of pace to exploit unprepared teams on the counter-attack. Westwood is an incisive passer to try and take advantage of the runners in behind. Benteke is fairly quick too and his aerial presence allow Villa to go direct.
Central Defence - Vlaar showed his class in the World Cup and if Villa can find a partner for him then they could be very solid. Okore seems like a good partner as he has pace but his relative inexperience may be a problem. Senderos is another option as is Clark, but both leave Villa very slow at the back. Vlaar and Okore could be a very solid partnership.
Centre Forward - Christian Benteke when on-form is one of the most unplayable players in the league. His combination of pace and power make him extremely dangerous and he is fantastic in the air. Villa will need him on top of his game if they are to have a successful season.
Weaknesses:
Possession - Villa struggle to hold onto possession as they have a lot of physically proficient players but don't seem to have players who are great at holding onto the ball. This is highlighted by their performances last season where their possession at times was about 30-40%.
Age - Very few of Villa's players are in their prime. They have a combination of young players and aging players which may be counter-productive. Aging players such as Philippe Senderos and Joe Cole are way past their (mediocre) prime and plenty of their players are inexperienced at this level.
Signings:
Philippe Senderos - An aging centre-back from a team that got relegated seems a bizarre signing, but he adds experience to a young defence. He is, however, not very good, so that might be a problem. I have a friend who watches Fulham often who said that he's slow, poor on the ball and has no positional sense. I don't think it's a good signing.
Kieran Richardson - Villa have issues at left-back and have done for a while. They will be hoping that Richardson will rectify these, but even if he does it's a short-term fix. However, he is a decent player who is quite good going forward, will pop up with the odd goal and is fairly quick. He's another aging signing, however.
Joe Cole - Maybe 10 years ago this would be an exciting signing. Now it's proof of how far Villa have fallen. Cole has never hit the heights that he could have done and now is a nomadic player who never really performs anywhere he goes. He might help them keep possession better but that's not really Villa's style. Another uninspiring signing but I may well be proved wrong.
Who They Should Sign:
A Right Winger - Weimann is decent but he isn't a traditional winger. He isn't brilliant at carrying the ball and his crossing is subpar. A dribbling winger who could cross the ball would complement their style and help Benteke out massively. However, Villa got rid of Albrighton who liked to run at defenders, so maybe Lambert likes having a winger who can score goals.
A Holding Midfielder - Having somebody who shields the defence better than El Ahmadi would really help them as then they could win the ball better and counter-attack more often. El Ahmadi is a decent player but there are much better ball-winners.
A Young Left-Back - Joe Bennett and Antonio Luna have proved to be not good enough at left-back and Richardson is a short-term fix, so Villa could do with a young back-up to try and fix the problem long-term.
Final Thoughts:
Villa are going to be in and around the bottom three again this season. They will rely on counter-attacking again and this may be their undoing if their defence is not rigid enough to stop the opposition from getting too many chances. Fortunately they have a superb goalkeeper who may keep them in games even if their defence doesn't hold strong.
They will need Agbonlahor and Benteke to have good seasons if they are to survive. Agbonlahor's pace is a deadly weapon against teams who press high whilst Benteke punishes teams who sit back, giving them a double threat going forward.
Villa generally up their game against the bigger teams and will need to improve their record against teams around them in the league. They need to find a more fluid style to match those who are of a similar level to them. This would greatly increase their chances of staying up.
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