The College Dropout

Only us Villa and Forest can challenge the status quo. Bournemouths owners are in it for money and Brighton have a ceiling. A relatively low one and limited ambition. Forest and Villa have owners that want genuine success. Any established PL team is only a wise £250m transfer window and a decent manager away from challenging for CL. literally us, Forest and Villa done it. Spurs did it last season. Brighton are doing it this season. Spurs can have multiple £250m windows which is their huge advantage.

No excuses here. atmosphere will be rank. Doubt the stadium will be full. Score the first goal early and these collapse.

Fancy chelsea to drop big points over the next 2. Massive weeks ahead.

Points in the bank >>> The only good side you named are Villa, IMO Chelsea have been poor for a long time. I fancy them to win all 3 home games. 3-6 points on the road. Forest will get 12 points minimum which will be enough for 5th at the worst. Maybe we can catch them but I don't care where we finish as long as it's 5th or above.

Same. I like him. But unsure if he has the legs for what we need from him.

Btw that Damsgaard is a very nice player. Excellent ball in-behind towards the end. I feel like Brentford purposely sign players from second rate footballing nations that are bald. All of which have potential to be quality. It ruins the players marketing some degree. Ivan Toney was too handsome with a great haircut. Never a long term Brentford player. Wissa, Mbeumo, Damsgaard - proper Brentford players.

With Murphy being our primary creator - that’s what we need to replace. Someone that can create space for and find Isak, Gordon and Barnes. None of them are creators.

I like Mbeumo. But I don’t think he’s for £60m player for us.

If his attitude was poor Eddie wouldn’t play him imo. He’s aging and had successive injuries.

He’s fighting for what will be his last pay day. He’ll be keen as owt to play well and secure a good contract somewhere. Agree with this. I’m a big Cal fan and he is getting better but he’s really showing a lack of mobility. With Brentford you know you’re getting an aerial attack so for Osula not getting any minutes - you know he’s well down Howe’s pecking order. Callum will get minutes this season. I hope he can prove us wrong. He’s looked better but still well off the level he was.

I’d be disappointed with only 15 points. We only face 1 team above us. 3 teams around us. A shit Man U at home between 2 massive games for them. Then Leicester palace Ipswich and Everton. Anything less than 16 is bad. Should aim for 18.

Without CL football - I suspect no. Not for fees, same contracts and multiple years. It’s given them a fighting chance of qualifying again and if you were them, you would be disappointed if Villa didn’t qualify for the Europa at a minimum. Either through the league or the cup.

I think 68 points secures 5th. Villa would need to win 6 games and draw 2 going undefeated. Or win 7 out of 8. In addition to at least 3 massive cup games. Probably 4 all in. They have to be too good imo. We need to win 6 out of 9. So much more attainable. Even with our injuries and weaker squad. My assumption is that a CL campaign will allow us to build a squad closer to the level of Villa in terms of depth. They’ve got a proper CL level squad now too the end of the season. But still.. it’s a massive ask for them. They are relying on us, City and Chelsea being a bit shit.

Opportunity is massive. What it means for our finances directly and indirectly.

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.