Tomaszk

Saw he was linked to Newcastle few days ago and dismissed as agent balls. Not sure he'd suit that well tbh, but he is a high class finisher. Must push for him if available.

Oh no, Drinkwater medical I'm going to bring him up constantly when people say they want PL experience. Can't see any benefit to this.

Maybe I am missing the point because I can't figure out what you're asking. I dipped in halfway on the Maupay/Hourihane thing...oh no, you were discussing with sir_gary.... I rate Maupay. He's dangerous. When I watch him, he looks a pain in the arse to mark. Players will come off knowing they've been in a game even if they've got themselves a clean sheet. If things don't go his way he's a ratty little arsehole who will start trying other means to get the better of players. Hourihane is slow, weak and a coward who shirks every bit of responsibility he can in open play. He's got a great knack for scoring goals and if we're all over the opposition he's probably our biggest goal threat. I want him on the pitch in that situation, he's a useful player for us. Maupay is definitely a PL player. Hourihane is touch and go, but can certainly find a place in a PL squad if used correctly. We've not been too far off using him very well, just the odd smelly performance he's started in usually following a goal. He can only play in games where we're going to have 55+% possession. So to reiterate, Maupay definitely a PL player IMO, Hourihane has question marks. Generally with stats, I would say if I've watched players a lot, I don't care about digging into numbers to see if they pass a threshold or something. I'll have a look if I'm interested in something in particular but my eyes tell me enough to trump figures and hold the opinion I do. The swing in black and white figures would have to be very big for me to go flip and say well he looked good to me but he's obviously not a good player because of X, Y, Z.

You can absolutely hold whatever position you like I agree sir. My counter argument is watch the games. Watch overall contribution. There's probably loads of data to backup the opposite to your scenario but balls am I going looking for it. You've picked minutes and goals. I can't be arsed to find ball retention, progressive passes into the final third, xG figures for players who are very clearly not good enough. It'd be a waste of time. I prefer making outlandish statements as loudly as I can. If Hourihane had 10 goals I'd still be saying he doesn't do enough in general play and needs to quicken up in possession.

Will Ospreay is ridiculous. Have loved AEW since they popped up. So nice to have someone else around pushing WWE. Dynamite and NXT are miles ahead of Raw and Smackdown, they're unwatchable for me now.

Please refer to performances. Stop just reading numbers. This isn't baseball.

I'd love it, don't get me wrong. Increases chance of going back in for Phillips. Not this time though, they're too good I think.

That'll happen with Patrick Bamford up top.

Smith really wanted Phillips and the move ended up not going through. We got Marvelous and Luiz. If we got him we'd be 6th now.

That's debatable. He's definitely a better holding player and if we went into the season with him, McGinn, Grealish CM we'd have been in great shape. We'd probably be 7th now.

OK, you're right. We'd be 8th.

How Leeds didn't get up last season is funny. They'd be up with Sheffield Utd if they'd gone up ahead of us. Automatic promotion over IMO. Leeds and WBA will grind it out. Brentford best of the rest but play-offs can throw up any old result.

Another one Smith overruled on and got a backup. Phillips and Maupay we'd be 10th now.

Overall involvement is much more important than who scores the goals. I don't care who scores, I want Villa winning. Maupay has been his usual ratty, menacing self. Wes has been very poor, broken down attacks and generally been stood in the wrong place for most of the season. Maupay also wasn't £25m I don't think? Thought he was £16-20m, pretty sure he was cheaper than the big man. I've checked in my crystal ball and Maupay would have had at least as many as Wes if we'd signed him and been much more threatening overall. It would be tough for him for be worse frankly. It's very clear we got it wrong IMO.

That's why it won't. Vida will also not be happening. Fella is 31 in April and plays the position we've got 4 players who could start with an extra broken one hanging around who could probably get through 15 games to the end of the season.

I've accepted what he is and I'm disappointed. Talented but remarkably inconsistent and has no fight in him at all. If he has two great games in a row he should probably be taken out for a week because he won't make it three in a row. I don't think Dean's style fully unlocks what's in him, but I don't think a stricter manager would get anything out of him at all. Only he can decide if he wants to become a real player by showing some mettle, that'll add 50% to his game.

World champs baby

And it would be forever preserved.

Presuming he's not fit that is. Thought he was still injured? We can't have Taylor on the pitch at all if we want to win points.

Wonder if Belotti was ever really on in the summer. The absolute dream signing for me if we stay up. Such a great target man.

Good chance to test someone else at LWB. Guilbert maybe with Elmo over at RWB. Be better than Taylor. Honestly don't know what to do. If we go full strength, new formation and all, we could still take an absolute pasting. Then again, I've just remembered we've got City at the weekend anyway. Just don't think it'd be good for confidence to get a whipping in the cup as well. Ideal world, we go strong a get a good result. I think that's how Smith's brain works.

What the hell are they doing atm? Floating along like a turd down river. Giving Liverpool a great chance to setup a brilliant foundation. If City collapse post-Pep, it's only Leicester challenging them!

Giroud linked with Newcastle as well. I'll be fuming if he goes there over us. They are guff, he won't get the ball!

I've just done this and it's mad. I think we're going down. Yet being my usual negative self, I've somehow got us finishing 12th. The whole bottom half if very tight. Got Newcastle, Bournemouth, Norwich going down. Other headlines are Liverpool finish on 109 points. City, Leicester, Wolves top 4.

Munas Dabbur would be gettable I reckon. Went to Sevilla last January, has hardly played. Loan be an option, could agree a fee of under £15m with it. Good all round forward, could play wide if needed.