saintwbu

Whenever i’ve seen him for Villa this season, he’s still as sharp as ever. Still manages to create space for a shot from nothing all the time.

I really like him, and I think defensively he can be brilliant. But on the ball he is pretty horrendous at times. I think after that City game last season we would’ve all thought he’d be off to a top Prem club soon, but the fact the links are now Monaco and Marseille is probably a reflection of the drop off he has had since that game.

Not surprised - I know they’ll bleat on about being a ‘bigger club’ etc, but they’re a mess, we’re close to his home, and he used to play for Liverpool. There’s no way they should be getting him ahead of us, if we want him.

Would be over the moon if we got Ings back, but would equally be absolutely gutted if we let him go to another team around us, as he could really be the difference in the right system.

Villa have just reached an agreement on a 19 year old striker from MLS - may be one for the future, but may be one that makes Ings a little bit more surplus to requirements..

Don’t think they have a pot to piss in from a FFP perspective, only links for them seem to be loans

Secret Scout clearly has contacts for Chelsea and City youngsters, not sure why anyone would deny it, it’s pretty clear for all to see.

No manager gets it right all the time - like Pep selling Lavia and signing Phillips for about 4 times as much.

He’s just so simple and composed, every clearance seems to go to the right place. Nothing is ever sliced, scuffed or misdirected. I’ve been hugely impressed by him the last two games.

Secret Scout is pretty decent, and given that Chelsea’s official instagram bio has @mmudryk10 in it, would suggest all is genuine.

Tbh that doesn’t surprise me, I can remember Man United at home where he made Pogba look like a Sunday league player. It was the games against the lesser teams where he couldn’t be arsed it seemed.

Didn’t J-Rod have hamstring issues after his ACL, down to over compensating on the other leg? Wonder if it’s quite common after such a big trauma to one part of the body

Everton surely have to bring the game to us as Lampard needs it to save his job i’d have thought, being at home as well. So last nights set up should be fine for this if everyone is fit, same approach.

Lyanco all things considered, after the Forest mistake, deserved it for me. However, DCC was superb - so calm and composed, simple and really effective. The sensible defender it’s felt like we’ve needed for years. Both clean sheets we’ve had this season, he’s played.

Chance creation definitely feels like a massive issue for us, so maybe our statistic-loving overlords have decided that’s more of an issue than finishing. To be fair to Che there are plenty of strikers with good goal numbers but miss loads of chances, he doesn’t get loads of chances.

I remember him coming on during the Euro’s and looking absolutely electric as a youngster, not sure if he’s pushed on much from there but if i’d heard we were signing him after that tournament i’d be excited.

Completely agree, most of the players people moan about or want out the team are our experienced players (Moi, Che, AMN, Aribo) - but Lavia and ABK are already seen as vital pieces in the puzzle. Good players are what we need.

Chuba Akpom is 27 and according to wikipedia has scored almost a third of his career goals this season, despite knocking around second rate leagues his whole career (and has always been a striker). Can understand why some wouldn’t be excited by his potential arrival, but equally who knows, might work.

Fair point - was more thinking about how after Puel (the dark years) we’ve had two FA Cup semi finals and a few quarter finals in each cup, despite being pretty terrible on the whole.

It’s a shame we seem to be getting favourable draws/decent runs in cups when we’re pretty crap! Always think what Koeman’s team might’ve done in the draws we’ve had the last couple of seasons…

That Japanese lad for Brighton cost them about £3m and he completely tore us apart the other day. There’s still value out there, and there’s plenty of shite that have cost a lot of money. I just want good players, I don’t care how much they cost.

Done his ACL

Adams is an Ormerod type, Ings was our Beattie. Broja filled that gap for a bit but as soon as his form tailed off, so did ours. This year has started the same way, we need a ‘something from nothing’ striker again to take the strain off Che.

He said way before Ralph was sacked that we approached Jones in the summer but he wasn’t ready. So I think it’s fair to say he clearly has a source somewhere, as that was so left field it’d be hard to have made it up.

Is Tella playing in Dyche’s Burnley side? There are plenty of players who have suited a single system under a single manager, and struggled to find success outside of it. Paul Merson did a good bit you can find on youtube regarding Harry Maguire’s struggles, and compared him to Roger Johnson (former Cardiff/Birmingham/Wolves). If we are signing Keane it worries me even more about the potential style of football going forwards.