You’re trying to bomb the space with extra questions to divert from the original discussion.
The original discussion was about whether we know enough to hold Lange responsible. If we’re going to discuss whether hes good at his job we have to understand what resources he has and what his objectives are. Those are not completely transparent to us so let’s acknowledge that.
We also need to empathise with the person. That’s not the same as defending someone. It’s too easy to critique from the sidelines. Anyone can complain and we all know moaners in real life - they’re not the first people I would go to for insight. So let’s try to be better than that.
We both agree that Lange has more limited resources than anyone else in the top six. He has about the same amount of money as Villa to spend on wages. So already, that is a healthy degree of mitigation. When I talk about the « club », in that context I’m talking about whoever sets the budgets. I won’t pretend to know who is really calling the shots.
We also agree that he does not coach the players. That is more mitigation.
You have brought up Bentancur and Richarlison. Last summer we had two midfielders going into the past year of their contract - Bissouma and Bentancur. Maybe you would have sold both and brought in a new midfielder. That’s what I would have done on FM too but that was also a risk. Sell your two senior central midfielders and hope the new players hit the ground running?
Richarlison didnt want to go last summer. He made that clear on Instagram. He wants to be Brazil’s #9 and you can’t sell aomeone who doesn’t want to go. There’s a contract to be respected.
But if we’re talking about injuries as an issue, then this is the second season in a row where weve had the most matches missed due to injuries. For that we can mostly give responsibility to the medical team, the analysts, the coaching staff and Scott Munn. Lange is WAY down the list of people responsible for that. We haven’t failed to deal with a normal amount of injuries. Weve failed to deal with an amount of injuries that would cripple any team in the league.
I forgot about the Dragusin window so I take that. Dragusin was a bad signing (although ANOTHER ACL victim and still very young for a centreback). He was 21 when he was signed. Hes just turned 24 a few days ago. But don’t let me disguise the fact that he is a poor stylistic fit and that is on the recruitment team.
In the end, hes looked at the resources he will have to spend unambiguously gone for a long term strategy. It could not be more obvious. If even half the players we have bought develop well then we will have a very good team in 3 years… and most of those players will STILL be years away my from their peak.
Has he made mistakes? Yes. But everyone does. I still think that if we get a ball playing 8 and a couple of players down the left who are first team ready, and a good coach … then we could have a very good team. We shouldn’t be as low as we are. We’re due a bit of luck with both injuries and transfers.
Okay we won a trophy but if that's your idea of success in this context then you're contradicting yourself because that isn't sustainable, we're not likely to keep picking up trophies every season. Villa have finished 4th/6th and possibly top 4 - in that time we have finished 5th/17th and possibly low this season - over a 3 year period they have sustained their growth despite their financial drawbacks, that shows good squad planning and making the most out of their situation.
