SKD

Very much not our ‘type’ but Cahill would have improved our back 4. Looks like he’s off to palace now though. We’ve lacked a leader since fonte/VvD, certainly think he would have filled a hole for a season or 2

Weird that anyone would link this to him moving to be honest. Clearly a dig at not being welcome around the squad. Similar to his frozen tweet the other day. I don’t know if it’s the Friday beers, or the fact you know very little about golf? But to say ‘I play off of’ is a pretty common phrase. So there’s your evidence. It’s more likely to be about bags of his name sake than it is a transfer.... However, just Ignore him (Austin). The blokes a complete prat and is showing why he’s not welcome around the squad.

I’ve listened to a couple of saints podcasts, 99% of which are absolute nonsense and sum up our cringey fan base. However, yours is the exception. Not sure you needed to add another member, but so be it. Any chance of opening up a Q&A section (mainly for Adam - appreciate there are parts he probably can’t answer / tell, but it would be interesting to get a diverse question set...).

What we’re missing at the back is a leader, something we’ve not had since Fonte/VvD and it shows. For that reason, I’d go for Cahill relatively low risk if he’ll sign a 2 year deal and will give us a chance to plug a gap and find a proper replacement. I do like the look of the lad from Chelsea (who was on loan at derby last year), but I don’t think he’s what we need right now.

Slattery is a complete tit. Everything that’s wrong with a modern day footballer. A cracking player with a terrible attitude (from what I’ve seen of him outside of the club). He’ll be off as soon as the opportunity arises.

Would be disappointed if we sold him to Leicester and I believe we’ll be competing with them next season (will probably come up just short though)

Both would work in a 3 but not a two. Neither have enough defensive discipline, so it depends on the system Ralph wants to play. Personally I’d play them both in a 433 and upgrade on Romeu.

Didn’t you once claim that Stephens was better than Maguire... you’ve obviously got a terrible judge of ability.

On his day he is much better than PEH and JWP. His problem is fitness and consistency.

Imo yes, a massive upgrade. For my money, best all round CF outside of the top 6

It is, or at least was, a big thing for Ryan. I’ll be amazed if he moves outside of commuting distance of London, however Madrid / Inter are massive clubs and possibly an opportunity at his age he feels like he couldn’t turn down. Personally I think he’ll end up at Tottenham if they sale Rose. They were interested a few years back.

Could be top 4 come end of September. Only game out of that lot I wouldn’t fancy us picking anything up in is victims home (who knows how they’ll start - will Mane and Salah be tired from ACON?) and Spurs away. That being said, most of them are away, so we could also easily be bottom!

Must be. Stephens is better than Maguire, as one pointed out a season or 2 ago. FWIW, I think we need to replace Romeu as well. Massively overrated, bang average other than 1 decent season under Puel, where pretty much anyone could have done his role

He was going to leave the summer we sacked Puel, but sackings Puel convinced him to stay. We’ve had 2 pathetic managers with lack of any plan in that time and Bertrand (along with everyone else) have looked below par. Bertrand is significantly better than Targett. Target is just slightly too limited to be a PL player, imo. Good luck to him but time to move on.

Has been known and in the pipeline for a year. Nagelsmann is taking over. Id imagine, given the time in what it has been known he will be manager, both players and manager will have a good idea of who is/isn’t wanted.

Cringey ****ers. By looking at that Facebook group, you could probably count the teeth on one hand of everyone involved. Hope these wallys are attacked upon sight.

If your wife cheated on you, then left you for a richer man, but then wanted you back after she got old and he found a better model, would you take her back? No from me, not the player he once was proven to be mentally weak and a bottler. He’ll still do a job at PL level, but let him go to Bournemouth or West Ham. We can do better.

Wish they put as much effort into designing the kit as they did trying to be funny with their cringey marketing. On a side note, does anyone know who selects the kit? I’d assume the club go to UA with a spec and then UA go to the club with a couple of designs for sign off...?

You’re right, he was bang average at Bournemouth despite joining with high expectations. His time was hit with injured (he done his ACL) and he was in and out of the team. He was also playing at LB. By all accounts, since joining Villa and being played at CB he’s been superb. Agree we need a commanding leader at CB, but the jury is still out on a lot of our CB’s Vestergard - hit and miss, for me, too slow for the PL and the way Ralph wants to play. Bednerak - looks great in a 3, been disappointed with him as a 2 (could be down to the squad as a whole though) Yoshida - is what he is, great servant, getting on a bit and Not good enough to be relied on as a first choice. Stephens - just dreadful. I’d like to see us get rid of 2 of the above and bring another 2 in. One thing Mings does have, which we don’t have in that back line, is pace.

Watching Villa last night, I thought Mings was excellent at CB. We could certainly do a lot worse than taking at look at him (Stephens and Hodet as an example). Quick, strong and good on the ball would also offer good cover at LB. Certainly not the leader at the back we need (I’d take him and another at CB), but would improve us without a doubt.

Out of interest and probably ignorance, is state ownership 1 - against PL / FL rules? 2 - a bad thing? Surely they’d want to keep the club in the PL for maximum exposure and would have more funds than a Gao?

Remember when everyone shot ericb down, when he suggested that Mr Gao wasn’t interested in the club per say, but the surrounding area........

And the fact he’s just having / completed building a new house.

This was my initial thought. This or an underhand tactic to get money out of China. I guess the next year or 2 will show his true intentions of the club...

Fair point. I guess it comes down to what formation Ralph wants to play. If it’s 4222 we’d still need a ‘quick play of the shoulder’ type CF to play with him. He’d effectively replace Ings (not saying that a bad thing), but I can’t see us spending c.£50m on 2 strikers in one window. If he’s looking to play 1 up top and have a focal point then I’d be all for it. Personally I can’t see it happening.