The College Dropout

Villa starting to get players back from injury and look to have a very strong squad now. They’ve got options everywhere. But they will be distracted imo. we need them to drop points against Forest and us and we should be ok. At the same time we should get 9 points from the next 3. It’s our time. 7 minimum.

Forest. Easily. Every team directly below us needs to lose every week they can. Villa’s hardest games are us (H), Forest (H), City (A).

This run of games has been massive for him.

They are also 7th tbf like we did.

I think they have too many games to finish top 5. But the winter window has given them a chance. Probably want Forest to beat them at the weekend.

Any one with a river ?

Is Connor Gallagher press resistant? I think Miley's profile is closer to Bruno's than Joelinton. That's who I think he can step in for. But Bruno is a minutes and fitness monster (touch wood!) so Miley will only get those minutes in full rotation or when we are several goals up. Joelinton & Tonali seem to need resting more, Joelinton misses games through suspensions too - I wouldn't want a Miley type to step in for him. Or Angel Gomes.

Don Flo runs Madrid well though. When he goes they need to build him a statue.

He's no worse than Rashford upfront. Think we need physical monsters that can play like Tonali. When Joelinton doesn't play we suddenly can't compete physically. Joelinton will pick up bans and injuries it seems. We miss his height too. When Pep replaced Fernandinho - he knew he needed a tall physical player. Howe's team needs a number of physical CMs. Miley's not. Bruno's not. We can't add a third imo.

Good players aye but the whole starting XI and regular subs weren't strong. Krul Colo Cabaye Tiote Ba were excellent throughout the season. Cisse, HBA, Ameobi came up big when needed too. Jonas put in a shift. But it wasn't a strong team and it never got close to repeating. No.

They sold a lot last summer. Got a lot of money for some French lads. They won't risk a points deduction.

Yeh I think so. I kinda saw what we would look like when Dubs was in goal with Botman - Schar in defence.. a lot more footballing ability. Add that level of football with a pacey CB and a better GK. Then a RW that can contribute to build up. Those 3 and I think we are close to Arsenal level. Add another CM and we can play at full pelt for 90+ minutes. Obviously semi joking about the CL. But we are maybe 2 away from being a very very serious team.

Brentford’s model is seemingly to run a cheap profitable(?) PL club. They don’t sell big or sell often.

Us finishing 5th with Williamson, Santon, Raylor, Jonas, Shola, Leon Beast, Guthrie etc. A few quality players and a shit hot streak from Cisse got us there... and obviously a great team spirit and morale.

Barcelona cooking their numbers it seems. They’ve managed to defend it through audits but it’s too coincidental to be genuine. truth be told - I want us to push the envelope. We are like 4 purples away from winning the champions league.