VillaParkAvenue

The last chance to get 30-35m was probably in January. Hardly much more than 20m now?

Fans underrate their own players, "5m and I'll drive him there myself". The best way of getting your own fans support is probably to be dropped by the manager.

Boubacar Kamara may not score that many screamers either, it goes with the position.

That sounds even more like Neymar.

Having two France nationals isn't bad, especially since both of them are likely to actually play in the World Cup.

I doubt it too, Gerrard will most likely stick to a midfield three with a single defensive mid rather than a double pivot. That's also how Kamara played at Marseille. But adding a new CM would be nice.

I see Gerrard already referring to him as Bouba. Feels nice and familiar.

Guess he will be receiving a sign-on bonus, to keep his salary within the current structure.

Done already, wow! Very impressed with this, quality player with a high ceiling. Turns out we weren't turning into an old boys club after all....

Annoying how papers refer to the Olsen incident as an "attack" in quotation marks, as if it's questionable whether he really was attacked.

I believe he'll show better numbers next season -- starting more games will help. Don't see any risk of him leaving. The general view from people outside the club is that he's been a slight disappointment this season and I don't think any club at this point would pay what he would cost.

We do score goals though (even if more would be nice). Of teams placed 9-20 Villa scored the most goals with 52. Quite a few of those teams conceded less than us: Brighton, Wolves, Palace, Burnley. Still think we should focus on improving central defence and midfield before splashing 60m+ on a striker who may score 2-3 more goals than the current ones, when he’s settled. Also need to sign a backup keeper — a keeper can make an absolutely huge difference, Jose Sa outperformed his xGA with 15 goals this season and probably gave Wolves an extra 10 points. An injury, or a run of bad form for Emi could cost us a season.

Mostly played as a single 6 I think. Also played centre-back.

13 total, in the league he has 11 goals which is the same as Watkins (but with less minutes played tbf) My concern is that even though his finishing skills may still be excellent, his pace and movement isn’t the same. He looks a lot less mobile this season, and if that trend continues I’d expect him to struggle coming back to a more fast paced league. Could surely be a good sub but not start most games, maybe used the same way Milan have used Ibrahimovic lately. As a mean, slightly scary old man.

The problem is knowing in advance that someone’s form will fall off a cliff. Konsa’s decline was hard to predict imo.

That’s usually what our attacks look like when we play the top teams, we don’t have the composure to build from deep so it’s mostly long balls or Watkins picking up on a defensive mistake.

If we’re lucky Chelsea could be in turmoil. I’d prefer to begin with a couple of difficult games, imo it’s worse to start the season with a series of must-wins.

Watkins scores pretty much in line with his xG. Outperformers compared to xG are Son, De Bruyne, Vardy, Smith-Rowe, Maddison and our Ramsey. The numbers for De Bruyne are crazy, he’s scored almost three times his xG this season. Underperformers are Aubameyang, Lacazette, Werner, Wood, Martinelli, King, Welbeck, Havertz, Antonio, Sterling.

It’s about collective memory, most of them aren’t throwing games away playing for their national teams. Villa have lost after conceding late before so in similar situations players will think ”oh no it’s happening again”. Not sure how to fix something like that. Leeds are the opposite — they are crap, but have a recent history of scoring late goals so their players will believe it can be done.

He was understandably rusty but I was still disappointed about one or two of the goals. I think the club’s intention has been to make him permanent, but unless it’s already decided Gerrard & co may have second thoughts.

Crazy to see Atletico fans on Twitter, complaining about first not getting Matty Cash and then missing out on Kamara to the same obscure club.

Yep, much higher profile. Coutinho is obviously a much bigger name but most people understood us signing him was because of Gerrard being his old team mate. B Kamara would arguably be the most widely sought after player so far choosing Villa.

Can’t help thinking the mood would be better if we’d been beaten 4-0 as everyone expected.

I don’t think Purslow will be evaluated on league position in a season or two. The most important parts of his job is appointing the right people — managers, sporting director — and improving revenue. The owners are busy with other things and CP is very much in charge. If he repeatedly makes bad appointments, or stupid strategic decisions, the owners will buy him out.

I agree it’s a tendency and must be dealt with. A lot is mental, teams that have made late comebacks before are more likely to do it again and vice versa. It’s not always related to overall quality — Leeds often make late comebacks, and they’re generally shite.