The College Dropout

They don't lose at home to Everton do they? Surely not right?

Burn is a better footballer than he's given credit for. He plays it out calmly - he doesn't break lines but he's no worse on the ball than Van De Ven. International football favours team harmony and pragmatism imo.

Think he’s going off players that have done well for him personally. I think burn and Tino have been solid whenever selected for England. Madueke has been good for England. These picks have all been regulars in his squad.

Agree that both Tino and Spence is redundant. I guess he might have a view to playing both to see out a game maybe. 🤔

People didn’t take Tuchel’s previous squads seriously. Burn, Spence, Madueke have played well for Tuchel - they are his guys.

I would have Hall over O'Reilly but I don't think it's clear-cut. I think 1 of Hall/O'Reilly + 1 of Tino/Spence as the options make sense. Any combination of the 2 makes sense, there are reasons to leave each of them out.

Bringing wor Dan Burn for that. Don't think Lewis-Skelly will go. He's got back in the Arsenal team as a CM no?

Makes sense to me tbh.

I understand not taking Hall. He is shakey sometimes defensively. Think the Man City lad has just got in ahead of him. And then Tuchel will have a lockdown right-footer there as an alternate in Tino/Spurs lad. Hall's injuries have been poorly timed too. Has only been in 1 or 2 squads prior right? Feel like a lot of the others have been in more squads. Think Tuchel will bring TAA & James, then a RB/LB.

Maguire isn’t going. Foden isn’t going. Dan Burn……..

Eh give any team a really good striker and everything looks much better. The same isn’t true for a class winger or 2. I don’t think Barnes Murphy or Gordon were significantly worse this year than last.

I'm just using him as an example. Look at the league - how many wingers have been a lot better than ours? It's no longer the era of Sane, Mane, Salah, Sterling, Rashford, Bowen etc.

For much of the season the Xg and Xga stats suggested otherwise. And there's been plenty of occasions Murphy has delivered an excellent cross and nobody is there to meet it. The biggest contributor to his lack of assists isn't his own performance IMO (which has been up and down) but a lack of a quality striker to finish off the crosses he still provides. the strikers have been a far bigger problem than the wingers. Like the wingers largely did what they were doing last season (those that were here), it's Isak missing that's changed everything.

Wingers getting a lot of stick. Barnes output is similar to any winger in the top 3 I think aside from Semenyo. Strikers, goalie's and predictable approach are the biggest issues.

why do people believe that guy btw?

Head Coach - less say on non-coaching matters like transfers, contract renewals, and maybe things like player recovery compared to a Manager. Ancelotti nearly always managed like a Head Coach. Rarely seemed to make demands on a club for transfers and such.

Worked well with the aforementioned players named. I was sceptical at the time but it would've been a great signing and we would be much better off now. Really lack a player in his prime with those qualities at the back. When a player like that becomes available - you have to be ruthless and get the deal done. It's Tonali-esque. Can only tell some years into the transfer imo. Staveley/Ashworth era when we were convinced on a player we did our level best to get the deals done even if at a premium/slight overpay. I really think that increases the transfers success rate. Those days we got our higher targets but we also went for them earlier than the competition. We were 12-months "early" on Guehi but didn't get it done. A year only on Isak, early on Gordon, Hall etc. It's a tougher market now mind. Chelsea go in stupid early now, Man U are trying to go earlier (not sure if this is actually happening).

The feast and famine stuff is partially bad luck and poor performance. This is Villa's 3rd non-CL European campaign over the last 5 years because they've been consistent. This Europa League win will have done wonders for their co-efficient. As Europa League winners will they get maximum pot money?

This is true. You have to finish 5th-7th in the PL or win the FA Cup.... or do a Forest. It's kind of cool Palace may end up in the UEFA Cup anyway right? Big steps to go but a great chance of 4 trophies in 3 years for a club that has previously won precisely nowt.

Think often they go hand in hand. It's what we did with Gordon, Isak, Tonali, Hall, Tino etc. All of these we paid a premium on potential. If we signed Guehi in 2024 for £55m + £200k p/w - at the time it would've represented an overpay and I would've been sceptical. But if he continued his development the way he has, it would've been a worthwhile deal. We would've been fighting to keep ahold of him. How good Guehi is? He starts for the second-best team in the PL and would start for every team in the division bar Arsenal. I think there are only 5 clubs max he doesn't start for in Europe - and I can only be certain of 1. I think the composure and leadership he brings to a team is invaluable and difficult to measure - that's the gap between him and Thiaw (or Botman) atm.

His feet are too slow to be a 10 imo

Always need some degree of player power imo. Worked his whole life for this career and 1 year just taken away from him.

Aye. Unless you’re going to build on the CL entry like we did the first time - it’s actually not worth it from a fans perspective. This second run we would’ve been better off Europa.

Aye. But I think Villa would’ve started to super gap us in playing squad with the extra money. This is this teams last hurrah imo. It needs a refresh. Rogers aside I think most of their best players are 30ish. Apart from Roger’s the youngest starter today was 28.

There’s no turning back now. The CL is bloated so the second and third tournaments are filled with midtable teams with the odd exception. PL has by far the strongest teams 5th-17th. Previousky Sevilla could finish 4th, then finish 3rd in CL then win that. These are now just getting knocked out the CL playoff rounds or r16. If I knew we were going to sell Isak and not strengthen the squad properly I would’ve preferred we finished 6th. As we would probably have won this tournament. While it’s so stacked in the PL favour. We need to get I on the European cup wins.