Paullow

8 more 2nd qualifying round 2nd legs now / tonight as we start getting towards the business end of qualifying. FT - Astana 0 Dinamo Zagreb 2 (Zagreb win 6-0 on agg) 5pm - Qarabag vs Rakow (currently 0-0, 2-3 on agg) 6pm - Hacken vs Klaksvik (0-0 on agg) 6pm - Genk vs Servette (1-1 on agg) 6pm - Maccabi Haifa vs Sheriff Tiraspol (0-1 on agg) - Live on TNT Sports 2 6pm - Molde vs HJK Helsinki (0-1 on agg) 7pm - Copenhagen vs Breidablik (2-0 on agg) - Live on TNT Sports 3 7.30pm - Galatasaray vs Zalgaris (2-2 on agg) - Live on TNT Sports 1

I'm not too worried about the midfield / attack, obviously you always want better than you have, but there's a lot of options there now. Bruno, Tonali, Joelinton; Barnes, Isak, Almiron Then can add in Anderson, Longstaff, Willock, Gordon, J Murphy, Wilson, and there's a lot of versatility with many being able to play multiple positions, e.g. Big Joe being able to go left etc. Miley could well get a few more 10 minute cameos than expected, and maybe even start the odd cup game / possible dead rubber Euro match. One more addition wouldn't hurt, but we can effectively name 2 XIs of front 6 players and there wouldn't be a significant drop off in quality, and that should be enough to cater for the extra matches this season, assuming there's no horrific injury crisis. The defence is a different matter because Manq/Kraft-Lascelles-Dummett-Targett as a potential PL back four is horrifying, you'd think only really Targett was of adequate quality, and if any of the other 3, or worse, 2 at the same time, were to come in, then it would seriously impact games and expected outcomes. We probably can get by with Burn and Targett as the 2 LB options this season as they are at least decent enough to start / come in, but adding a RB and a CB is an absolute must, but that's largely common knowledge, and hopefully it's addressed soon.

Slovan Bratislava just about come through. 1-0 up from the away leg, go 3-0 up on agg on the night, but the Bosnians pulled 2 goals back and they were hanging on at the end. Mad match / tie between BATE and Limassol with the latter winning 11-5 on agg . Panathinaikos beat Dnipro 5-3 on agg, and maybe a minor upset in the final match with Olimpija putting out Ludogorets 3-2 on agg with a stoppage time winner. Ludogorets used to often qualify for the group stages, but I'm not sure if they are quite as good now. They've won like 12 Bulgarian titles in a row but they were second with 2 games to go and won it on the final day, and they also lost 2-0 to their Kosovan opponents in Q1 before turning the tie around at home. 3 more matches on TNT Sports tomorrow

Hell of a long day If you get in for the Nice vs Villarreal match in the Saturday and plan to watch the lasses. I'm going on the Sunday and will aim to get in for the second half of Nice vs Fiorentina, but will be a long wait from full time in that one until the Newcastle match starts.

I guess they will just get what they are given but seems that BT / TNT always seem to show effectively redundant second legs. Haifa were 4-0 up from the away leg in the previous round, and now BATE 2-6 down from the first leg. Match held in Hungary tonight and no fans in the stadium. I'll probably switch over to the Bratislava match at 7.30pm. Edit - BATE really needed to score early to make it somewhat of a contest, but it's the Cypriots that are ahead on the night inside 10 mins.

Just 4 2nd qualifying round 2nd leg matches tonight: 6.30pm - Panathinaikos vs Dnipro-1 (agg 3-1, winner plays Marseille) 7pm - BATE Borisov vs Aris Limassol (agg 2-6, winner plays Rakow or Qarabag) - Live on TNT Sports 3 7pm - Olimpija Ljubljana vs Ludogorets Razgrad (agg 1-1, winner plays Galatasaray or Zalgiris) 7.30pm - Slovan Bratislava vs Zrinjski Mostar (agg 1-0, winner plays Sheriff Tiraspol or Maccabi Haifa) - Live on TNT Sports 1

We've obviously not taken the piss with the fee, but it doesn't feel too bad to me. He started 12 PL games last season, 13 more as a sub, so completely missed 13 PL matches. Started 2 of the 8 cup games (and 4 more subs), so he only started 14 of the 46 games. 1 goal and 5 assists - very talented, but being a year older and getting to the stage now where after 3 or so years at a new club, there wouldn't be too much resale value, his stock is definitely lower than what it was this time a year ago, so we couldn't really expect any more than £35-40m at the absolute most. Apart from maybe Almiron at a push, he's the only one of our squad that we could afford to lose and command a reasonable fee, there really is no one else - we'd struggle to get £15m for Targett these days, Murphy similar, and you wouldn't want to lose any of the 15/16 core players that we have, so while it's a shame to see him go, I'm OK with the fee / transfer. Just hope we can get two more defenders in within the next week or two.

Full time, 3-3. Chelsea vs Fulham is a 'Summer Series' decider with whoever wins taking it, or Villa if they draw. We'll finish 2nd if Chelsea draw 0-0, joint second if it's 1-1, or 3rd with any other outcome.

3-3. It's back on!

Very little. It would require Brentford to win here and then Chelsea to draw 0-0 later so the margins are very slim. 1-1 later would probably see us and Chelsea share it, unless there's a less known, random tie break decider that I'm not aware of. It's obviously mainly about fitness and using the squad and trying new ideas, blood youngsters and new signings, and nobody will remember who won in 4 months, but in terms of an actual competition, we weren't helped by the schedule. Last to play on Weds and first to play on Friday, less than 48 hours later, whereas 4 teams play on Sunday, plus being the only side not to play either Brentford or Fulham and having the 3 toughest opponents.

Just tuned in. In what sense? Bias to Villa, USA etc.?

I guess it's similar in England with Leeds, Leicester and to a lesser extent Southampton going down, plus well supported clubs like Sunderland and Sheff Wed being out of the top flight for ages and traditionally smaller clubs like Bournemouth, Luton, Brentford, Brighton and others either getting takeovers or just being extremely well ran clubs to replace them, but it's mad looking at that league and seeing the likes of Schalke, Hamburg, Hertha all down there as well as the premier clubs in big cities like Nuremburg and Hannover. Kaiserslautern were also quite good on the old Championship Manager games as a young'un.

Yeah, just watched that and agree with most of what he says. Always thought a top LB was the main priority heading into this window but looking at the squad as it is and ideally wanting at least 2 competent players for every position then a RB and RCB should be the main issues to address if we were to only bring in 2 more players.

Shelves?

For those interested in odds and who do use them as a gauge. https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/winner It's kind of in line with how I see it, although I do think Liverpool will finish above Arsenal. Title odds have Man City odds on, Arsenal around 5s. Liverpool 8s, Man Utd 11s, then us and Chelsea around 16s with them slightly shorter (than us generally), Spurs 40/50, Brighton ahead of Villa which is quite surprising IMO, especially with them in the harder European competition this season. https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-4-finish Top 4 odds have 4 teams odds on and then us and Chelsea very similar (Chelsea shorter at some, us shorter at others) with Spurs and Brighton (then Villa) a bit further back. https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-6-finish The more obvious 4, Newcastle and Chelsea all odds on for a top 6 finish, with Spurs slightly north of evens - it will surely have been at least 15 years since Spurs weren't odds on to make the top 6 before a ball was kicked. Thought there might have been some 'without Man City' odds, but not listed on Oddschecker.

Yeah, Arsenal finished 5th the year before and their European campaign consisted of 8 matches (which we'd at least hope to get this season). 6 group matches of PSV, Bodo/Glimt and Zurich and then a L16 defeat to Sporting - if we had matches against Zurich and Bodo Glimt then it would be a much changed side, possibly not too far off what we played vs Brighton the other day. 4 of Man Utd's 6 group matches included Omonia and Sheriff. They were pipped for top spot on goal difference which meant, unlike Arsenal, they did have to play a L32 match, but Liverpool can certainly experiment in the early stages and rest key players. You obviously need to prepare for games and travel to them, but the Europa Conference group stage will likely be even easier for Villa. West Ham obviously struggled in the league last season although not conclusive that it was mainly down to extra European games because they made the SF of the Europa League in 2021/22 and still finished 7th in the league that season, but their Conference group matches consisted of FCFB, Anderlecht, and Silkeborg - they won all 6 matches and made 10 changes for their final match in Romania, including a bunch of kids, because they'd already won the group and avoided the L16 match, so that could be a great opportunity for Villa to play some of their many promising youngsters in the early stages, like it would have been for us, and save more of their better players for the league matches. You obviously want to play in Champions League, and of course wouldn't change it to be in a lesser competition, or no Europe at all, but it will likely impact the league schedule. Mind, it's also the first time Arsenal have been in the CL since 2016/17, so it's fairly similar for them in that for the first time in years they will have additional huge priority matches in midweek.

Most likely if two are saying it . Thought it was Alex for some reason. I'll blame it on staying up late when full of cold, ha. Edit - yeah defo Jacob. Must have just saw NUFCs tweet say 'Murphy's pass and Anderson's finish' and completely forgot about Jacob

By my reckoning, If Villa lose to Brentford later and Chelsea draw 0-0 with Fulham then we'll be bringing home the prestigious 'Premier League Summer Series' . If Chelsea draw 1-1 (and Villa lose) then it will probably be shared because we (us and Chelsea) will both have 5 points, scored 6, conceded 5 and drew in the H2H meeting, unless there's some other tie breaker that Wiki is not aware of. Not that it matters, but Villa probably favourites at this stage heading into their final match tomorrow.

It was Alex Murphy's assist for the 2nd goal, but I still don't know who did the decent work down the right to contribute to the equaliser.

I think Liverpool will be a lot better this season, and probably favourites for 2nd. Still a great team, ended the season very strongly, some decent additions, won't really need go gung ho in Europe so can save some of their better players for the league, especially in the earlier stages. Then Arsenal and Man Utd probably favourites for the other 2 top 4 slots. I can see us finishing anywhere from 5th to 8th, 6th is probably par as Chelsea have a better manager now, no European football to distract them, and will likely bring in further significant additions. Tottenham and Villa will be in and around, but hopefully we finish above those, and ideally any of the other 5 because as widely documented, it looks like 5th will be CL football for the 2024/25 season. 5th, still be in Europe beyond the 6 CL group matches, and a decent run in either of the two domestic cups (like minimum QF or SF) would be a fantastic season.

If they do go a bit further then Frank might have to mention '£50m forward' in every press conference.