The College Dropout

That was one of their easiest games in their run in. Next 3 games are against 3 of the top 4. Chelsea have the FA Cup final 2-3 days after Leeds and Leeds will beat them to stay up imo. They’ll get what they’ll need from Brentford and Brighton after that.

Hodgson is almost as bad as Bruce and more defensive.

Zaha has 25 G/A in the last 2 seasons. ASM has 16 G/A in the last 2 seasons. One is a level above the other.

People keep saying there's better value abroad than getting the likes of Rashford or Zaha.. where? who?

Aye terrible divers. Diving is v. frequent in English football and has been for a long time. Look at some of the penalties Owen won for England at the world cup in 98, 02 - dubious. Even Sterling against Denmark. Dive.

Everton have a few players worth at least considering. And potentially could be a rival in the short term in the league for new signings at least. Also significantly close the gap on the all time points list. Funnily enough Leeds and Blackburn are lower than us on the all time list but still have a positive goal difference.

Burnley will be disappointed to not get to 37 points. They could easily be on 37 points by the time they play us and you’d fancy us to roll over for them. Everton have good fixtures but they’re just so bad. Leeds have tougher fixtures and the worst goal difference. Tonight’s game is mammoth.

Worst case we finish 17th with a 0.2% likelihood of that happening. I assume chance of finishing 18th isn't worth putting there. Super close between Everton and Burnley for 18th. Leeds not totally out of it yet.

The year we finished 6th or 7th under Roeder was more like that. Finished the season strongly when others had put their feet up. The Bobby & Pardew 5th finishes we were in the CL race down the home stretch but just fell short.

I forgot Barkley existed. Chelsea despite their success is a grave site

It’s the player more than the wages. Abraham would surely demand something in that region but you would be very confident he would score 10-15 goals at a minimum in the PL.

Rashford was good last season. I’ve said this a lot here. No Manchester United player post Fergie stays at that club and improves their reputation. You can name a long list of great players that have joined them and gotten worse. Rashford does need to leave before his drop is terminal. I’d take him here but the wages would be an issue. The wages for a lot of players are an issue for motivation tbf.

£150k isn’t astronomical. If he left I’m the summer he could get a deal taking him to 2027. I think around that mark to £175k is to be expected. Bruno G is on 125k apparently. Lingard would be on similar. He’s barely had a look in under Carlo or Zidane so I would stay away from a permanent deal anyway.

Don't agree with that. If you're coming from a failed stint at a super club, you'll be looking at similar terms over a longer period. Rather than a wage rise. Jovic has massively flopped. There's no justification for a wage rise and nobody besides a silly PL team would offer it.

Not sure I agree here. I think if you let managers have too much autonomy in the transfer market, you'll end up with a disjointed squad as managers come and go. That's what happened at Man U (among other things) and Everton (among other things). Only exceptions if you're willing to bet everything that this 1 manager is your guy e.g. Conte, Pep, Klopp. I can see Villa making the same mistakes Everton made. Spent the summer signing playmakers, wide players and 2 first team strikers... brought in a new manager who has brought in his own playmaker (on astronomical wages), only plays 1 upfront, no wide players and spent £30m on an inferior fullback on astronomical wages. All for a manager that is not proven. If it doesn't work, they're saddled with the Everton problem. I think you sign a core group of players that suit a general style for the club and give the manager 1 or 2 just for him. That's the RB model, Madrid and Chelsea do similar. Ultimately, Howe himself is a transitionary managerial appointment. Is he the man to get us into the top 4? Let's get quality players of a particular hard working profile, if Howe doesn't work out we'll get in someone that will make it work. I'm not living or dying behind Targett here. If we have legit better players with the right attitude we should get them. But we should avoid Targett out, Digne in type disaster transfers.

Also Walker, Zinchenko don't get many assists or goals. Chelsea, Spurs play with wing-backs which is a different position entirely. The best teams in the division that play a back 4 have at least 1 conservative first choice fullback. I would replace ASM before Targett. Aston Villa want to become Everton and are sitting in 15th after spending £150m on players that flatter to deceive. I don't care why they let Targett go.

It's not like. At least 2 of them should not be automatic starters next season. Ideally all 3. His priority next season is to get us into Europe - or close.

Passing is a last resort for the lad unless a killer ball is open.

It looks a penalty because Azpi has his back to ball and Saka looks like he's trying to go for the ball and falls over. In real-time it looked like a penalty - "what the hell is Azpilicueta doing?" Replay suggests they both may have been at it but doesn't excuse how the Chelsea man is not even looking at the ball. Not mad it was given, glad it wasn't reversed. If the decision was no penalty, I wouldn't be mad either

This is not true at all.

Aye - we need someone who can get 15-20 goal contributions from wide. Jarrod Bowen, Zaha & Raphinha levels of output and he's a step behind that. Some of us like to think he's functioning at that level but he's not. He's more Leandro Trossard.

Upgradeable.

He's in Turkey for a reason. Was poor for Valencia and Palace on loan. He's the profile we don't want.

Liverpool put together the front 3 on the premise of getting 10-15 goals each which i think we can build.

More like £40-£50m. Toney would be 40m minimum. 60m for Abraham. Is Pukki a bad shout? He would be very cheap. Scores goals in a poor side. Just an idea.