The College Dropout

Wonderfully gifted player. Cherki is one of the best players in the world to watch

Think he’s good tbh. Was stellar at the euros.

He’s on the peptides

Yeh - unfortunately. It's a bit late but they should've insisted we were invited to the CWC. I've long thought Saudi should throw their own competition pay megabucks to 8 clubs and invite us. But I don't think they care about us to that extent.

And Ekitike apparently. No club should be allowed to spend what Chelsea have spent and will spend over the last few seasons. They already had the deepest squad in the league and they’re adding 2 top quality strikers to it. The overall squad is already crazy good talent wise. Thats how they’ve gone 5th, 4th - it’s still a fairly bang average team but the sheer number of quality players they can call on is crazy

IMO we were shopping him on the sly. Assume that release clause is no more too. That's partly the purpose I guess. I feel like I was one of the first to point out how slow he is before he joined. It largely doesn't matter, he's so aggressive and committed. I now think it's overblown on here. Someone like Jonjo Shelvey literally couldn't run. He couldn't get up and down the pitch physically so he had to play a fairly rigid role. Bruno is now tasked with going box to box and he does it manfully - he's just a bit slow and tired. He's not got that super athlete gene but he's plenty mobile and runs the hardest yards.

Not true. Villa play a variation of 4231 - 3 5 2 in possession, mostly 442 out of possession. Similar with Alvarez era Man City. Liverpool often play with 2 behind a more attacking midfielder. From memory Slot rarely has them flat it’s usually 1 sitting and 2 going or the inverse. 4-2-4 in a high press which we sometimes do as well. If you have a genuine attacker as a 10 he’s going to struggle positionally in a flat misfield 5 often. I use formation a lot. But in reality modern systems are fluid. There’s nothing default turgid about 2 central midfielders and an attacker/midfielder between the lines and a striker. Same with back 5 - it just comes with some concession in certain spaces and different profiles.

Typically playing 3 games every 8 days. Tuesday weekend wednesday weekend tuesday etc. At least one of those rounds is league cup. But you play 6 CL games before New Years. Most likely 4 after new years (2 group stage and 2 play off or R16), plus Fa cup and league cup hopefully. If everyone’s fit Bruno G and Tonali would sit out… 3 games? 2 in the league cup. 1 in the Fa cup. Every league game and CL game they would start if fit.

NONSENSE

Guessand passed the 5 minute scout test

We don’t think Tonali joined as a highest earner or close?

Is it? I'd expect Bruno with a CL bonus to be close to 200k. Any Isak extension would be there.

£120m would be less than £50m in amortised cost net. I would double that spend and sell next June if necessary.

More than semi decent. He's good and composed. When Arsenal tried to press him he passed it out calmly. Doesn't shank em like the Chelsea GK does all the time.

Big advantage of Elanga is that he's two-footed. Only scored 11 PL goals, but 6 with his left, 5 with his right or something like that.

We play with 3 midfielders. You only need 1 player of 3 to get injured, suspended or need a rest to play. We will play 3x a week, every week from September to January excluding international breaks. That's loads of starts and minutes of the bench for another CM. I like the idea of signing a JP/Cunha/Alvarez type. Could drop a CM and play as a 10. Or play instead of Isak in our current setup.

Why would we sign Matt O'Riley? Onana level minimum. Aye Krafth and Lascelles are injury crisis players. That's fine.

Not really. Botman x Burn was solid. Agree with the others. Miley isn't our 4th best midfielder according to Howe. £15m pays for Tonali/Onana for a season. Would rather not sell but he does need football.

That will also mean Miley barely plays again. What good is that for him or us?

Yes. We should be looking at playing 55ish games next season. High intensity top level games. I feel like Bruno G has never been rested for a full game he’s been fit for the entirety of the time he’s been here. (I’m personally happy to start Pope and have Dubs on the bench bur whatever). I think we can get away with a 10/striker hybrid Cunha/JP/Alvarez mould, RW, CB. Play with 1 less CM at points.

This is it.

We are an excellent side. We lack pace at CB, quality at RW and depth/quality at CM and in attack. Address that and not lose players we frequently play - we are a 80-85 point team with some luck. Thats the quality of the current Aston Villa squad. Where they had Onana, Maatsen, Watkins, Malen on the bench when everyone was fit. The current Arsenal squad which would have Merino, Calafiori, Jesus, Jorginho, Ben White on the bench with everyone fit. Thats the level. The upcoming season is the most important. We don’t qualify for the CL so we keep Isak and Tonali? Do we get top dollar if we do want to sell them? CL is now £50-80m every season.

We won’t qualify for the CL again next season if we don’t have several Barnes, Joelinton, Trippier level players on the bench when everyone is fit. We won’t qualify for the CL again if we don’t buy a first team quality CM/10 this season - unless Miley is that player at 20 years old. For me it’s that simple. Villa couldn’t do it with half a season with a super squad. We barely managed it with no Europe. A winger, backup striker, CB and GK won’t be enough

Miley barely plays. He’s not good enough as it stands to be the next choice CM for a side in CL looking to requalify. If he’s not good enough to be Joelinton level-ish over 25 games next season - it’s better he’s sold for someone who is. That could be the difference between CL and Conference league. Last 16 CL or group stage elimination.

You have to trade. Selling Miley for £20m would pay for Tonali for a single season. Tonali was the difference between CL and no European football. That’s £80m in revenue. £20m pays for Tino and Hall for a single season. The impact of that level of player is the difference between on pitch success and failure which impacts revenue. At some point we may have to sell Tonali, Hall or Tino themselves too.