McCormick

Yeah, yeah ffp and all that jazz but considering we spent 35m on a back up Rb, I do hope we go all-in on a worldie left-back.

I imagine they’re being “rested” for our game.

Also no point Ffp-wise to move him on so soon (at probably a loss as well).

Ouch.

Small matter of having 200m+ to play with this summer and I think JWP, Alvarez (who’s a bit meh but great physically) plus another is a very solid midfield. If they spend big on a striker and a winger then they haven’t got the worst squad. I think Villa will be an exciting watch but their injuries are killers for them; Torres is a fantastic ball-player but he’ll get murdered in that high-line. Watkins is good but goes through dry spells, Bailey isn’t great (they’ll have to use him after Buendia’s season-ender), besides Moreno their full-backs aren’t amazing and their midfield lacks bite. This is a very reactionary take, I’ll admit, and it obviously depends on how well West Ham spend.

Is there a hot take thread or something similar? Because I’ve got a searing one and don’t know where to put it. Neck on the line here but I’m convinced West Ham will finish above Villa.

Wouldn’t surprise me if we went for a short-term solution in getting a left-back this window and then go all in on a future superstar centre-back in the summer. Antonio Silva at Benfica comes to mind; would be super pricey, but we’ve shown that we can “overpay” for the right profile.

Tierney would be a fantastic addition imo.

Besides the obvious ones; and this is probably harsh on Miggy, but I’d probably take Solomon over our right wing options as well (if we’re factoring age). Romero and VDV aren’t too far away from making our first xi too.

We’re about at that figure (net) currently no? That’s without taking add-ons into account too.

Not his best performance by any means but I thought he was pretty decent.

Chelsea have the best full-back pair in the league (when fit) imo.

Depends what you would define as “world-class” I suppose. Maddison is one of the best midfielders of his type in the best league in the world. He definitely should be in the England squad as well.

Maddison is a world-class addition tbf. If they get a full-back and a decent striker they’ll have a very solid squad on paper. It’s definitely got more quality in depth than Villa’s (not withstanding their injury issues).

Ugh. I really like Szoboslai. Annoying they got him.

Liverpool look like they’ve got a very quick and athletic squad this year.

He’s apparently on record as being as fast as Mbappe.

We saw it a couple of times yesterday but that quick switch from Tonali to him out wide will be money for us this season.

Did we get that Zefi kid btw? Looked super promising in his YouTube compilations.

Didn’t realize they’d already signed Van de Ven. I think he’ll be fantastic for them, unfortunately.* *Obviously hope I’ve jinxed him here.

Thought Schar was (once again) quietly very good. Pocketed Watkins for the majority of the game and was cool as a cucumber in everything he did.

You know damn well he’d be falling over himself to hit us with a “good ebening” at minute 94 if the scores were reversed .

Doubt he’ll see it that way . You can tell he’s desperate to be the main man. To be fair, he’s good enough to be the main striker for the majority of the teams in the league.

Such a statement win. If Arsenal did this to a highly-rated Villa side, pundits would be talking them up for the title. Has @brummie been in with his thoughts yet ?

So composed in the final third and his movement is top tier. Love him already.