david-avfc

23 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Been thinking the same.

Unrelated but for example look at the Music Industry. Artists now realise they can make a tonne load of money independently without record labels.

However the labels simply have to adapt and still find inventive ways of locking artists I to 360 deals lol.

Mbappe probably the most extreme example of where things could possibly go unless some sort of safeguards are put in for clubs.

I wonder if eventually there should be some sort of " Minimum Release Clause, meaninf clubs would at least get some sort of fee, even if nominal.

An outcome of transfer fees becoming sillier and sillier; if you were a player and you wanted to move someone has to stump up tens or even hundreds of millions to sign you, a Bosman signing might be your best hope 

1 hour ago, skarroki said:

I'd personally be looking to keep Traore and move on El Ghazi and Trezeguet. I still like Traore and think he's a good wildcard, El Ghazi and Trez have had their chances now and shown themselves to be possibly more suited to football elsewhere in Europe. 

Yeah Traore and Bailey both injured constantly throughout the season, fully fit they could still find a place in the squad. Not convinced either has the consistency to start 30+ games for us but could still slot in on occasion either tactically or as cover, and would be useful options off the bench. 

El Ghazi and Trezeguet I think we’ve seen enough to know they’re just below the level required, not bad players at all just don’t have that extra something special to be PL attackers

14 minutes ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

If he’s available I’d like us to look at Zinchenko as a CM option.

He’d be an interesting option if the price is right, his versatility would be helpful to the squad as he could provide cover for left back whilst also competing for a midfield place too. I guess the question is whether he’s actually good enough to be a PL midfielder, as he’s not really been tested much there in the league, international football is a bit different and it’s common for players to be shifted into different positions for their national sides (Alaba in attacking midfield for Switzerland is an example which comes to mind)

I think we’ll be aiming for 7th but will probably miss it and finish 8th-10th. We’ve spent money already and hopefully there is more in the tank, but converting a highly inconsistent 14th place side into a solid top 6/7 side is a very difficult challenge, especially as there are a number of similar sides pushing for that same position, which is why I can’t see it happening unless we have a particularly great run of form throughout the season. 
 

Another bottom half finish now would be viewed as a failure, unless of course there is some unexpected chain of events which sets us back further (e.g. some injuries etc), as we’ve spent enough money and seem to have the right structures behind the scenes now to help us push on. 

4 hours ago, danceoftheshamen said:

I could never fathom how such a big guy was so useless in the air tbh. Always find it bizarre how we have/had so many big players none of whom seemed able to guide a basic header on target from a corner!? I include in that Mings, Davis, Wesley, Konsa, Hause (although he did finally get a rather good one at Old Trafford of course) etc 

Surely we should've had far more headed goals with players like that?

I remember watching his debut in the annual Walsall friendly -  His first touch was from a typical long ball smash up the field and from his attempt to chest it down the ball bounced about 5 or 10 yards back in the direction it came from. I had my doubts from literally that first second. Feels like he was scouted off a database because he never looked natural and surely that would have been picked up on if we’d properly looked at him

1 hour ago, HalfTimePost said:

Suppose the difference is Gomez came through at Barca and Dortmund as an attacking midfielder and has shone so much in Anderlecht as a left back in a poor league.

Technically he will be superior, for sure. But doing it in a poor league it may well be his defending is very poor and he wouldn't translate to a PL fullback. He may be fantastic and he certainly sounds the most exciting of the two. But he could just as easily be a Kamikaze fullback who can't defend, able to smash the Belgian league in offense just as Samatta and Wesley have before as strikers.

Merlin however plays in a Top 5 league (albeit the worst of the 5) and has had decent stats out of it and OK attacking output. It's more obvious that you can compare his experience to Villa (Guilbert etc).

I've never seen either play, as a backup to someone like Digne, we can take a bit of a risk. I'd be more confident in Merlin stepping in but more excited for the potential of Gomez.

As a luxury backup, I'd not be much bothered either way and nice to see us looking at progressive, young options

Was wondering if he was the same Gomez who was a hot prospect at Barca and Dortmund a few years ago. Seems like a strange one to go from attacking midfield to left back. I’d have some concerns to be honest especially if he was only recently sold by Dortmund who have a good record of promoting youth players. Sometimes these la masia graduates just shuffle round the various European leagues living off the Barcelona name on their CV. There was one guy Halilovic who was apparently one of the best prospects around at one point.. he ended up at Small Heath!! 

12 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

Emi said that Beale did a lot of things the manager would normally do and hadn't experienced that in an assistant before. He implied it was more like Beale was the manager and Gerrard was his assistant. 

 

Maybe Gerrard will step up now he has 4 years of observing Beale. But I'd prefer a top class assistant over that scenario. 

We don’t exactly know what the dynamic is on the training field or behind closed doors in the offices at Bodymoor Heath. But I would say it would be highly unusual that the assistant calls the shots and the manager is secondary to his own assistant, that would by a highly dysfunctional set up in any organisation. 

I would say more realistically Gerrard simply delegates out the training sessions to the assistant and the players pick up on this as they spend more time on the training pitch with the staff than anywhere else. I don’t see that as an issue or anything unusual, some managers are more hands on on the training pitch than others.  In that scenario we simply bring in another high quality coach and Gerrard just delegates out exactly the same responsibilities on the training field, not an issue.

In terms of tactical planning etc of course his assistant will likely feed in to the ideas but as the main manager the final responsibility lies with Gerrard - whether Beale is providing supporting input or if it’s someone else’s voice, the decisions are still ultimately Gerrard’s. 

If we do have a backwards set up where the manager isn’t really the manager, which sounds completely bizarre to me, then really the sooner that set up gets cleansed out the better.

Glad to see him do well. I expect his value will double now, albeit from a low base, as presumably Forest will want to keep hold of their play-off heroes, much like we did with Mings, Hause, El Ghazi and it seems like Davis is well liked up there and plays every game when fit. He's proven he can be a useful player if given proper game time, he's never going to be a 20 goal a season man but could hit double figures and has a lot of great attributes with his strength, pace, hold up play etc so would be a decent for a lower PL side like Forest will now be, or certainly good enough for the championship. £8-10m + sell on % in case he turns into an Michail Antonio type would be decent for all parties

2 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Could this lot generate 40 - 50 mill? Or way too optimistic?

Matt Targett, Morgan Sanson, Bertrand Traore, Anwar El Ghazi, Trezeguet & Kortney Hause are likely to be available for transfer this summer. 

(JPercyTelegraph)

I think it’s about right, we should be looking for around £20m for Targett IMO, although rumours of closer to £15m. £5-10m for the rest, Sanson and Traore at the upper end, Trezeguet, El Ghazi, Hause at the lower end.

Also get the sense Luiz will be off, around £20-25m I’d expect with Roma reportedly interested.

Of course as others have said, some might have to be loaned out which would put a dent in the money received.

How would Bissouma fit into the side? From what we’ve seen from Gerrard he likes to have 1 deep midfielder with the other 2 midfielders slightly more advanced and pushing a little wider to cover the full backs, not really seen many examples of a “double pivot” being used. Can Bissouma play in a slightly more advanced position? I’d be interested in someone view who’s watched him more closely than I have, I’ve always thought of him as a defensive specialist 

3 hours ago, CVByrne said:

He had one good season with Leicester. He subsequently joined Chelsea where he didn't play at all really for two seasons. He then went on Loan to Burnley where they didn't even play him. Finally landing on Loan with Villa. 

Ox has played over 1500 mins of minutes of football for Liverpool this season, Ings and Buendia have 1900mins 

So yeah, there's your nuance. He's Danny Drinkwater mk2

1500 minutes, which from the 62 games Liverpool played across all competitions is around 27%, fairly rubbish. Just 787 league minutes out of a possible 3,420 as well (less than 25%) typically most of which were against lower PL teams. In fact across all competitions, around a fifth of his minutes came against Norwich alone. He's clearly not favoured by the Liverpool set up, just because players play for certain clubs it doesn't mean they are automatically better than us, especially if they've been stagnating on the bench or in the treatment room for years on end

Please god no.

I have my suspicions that some of those Burnley thugs look decent playing anti-football but could be exposed under “normal” tactics. It’s interesting that he was called up to the England squad once or twice, but hasn’t been asked back - the England set up to me seems like a bit of a clique, if you’re in, you’re in, but this guy was in at one point but then not considered good enough to stay in compared to the likes of Coady and Mings 

56 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

I don’t personally see Tarkowski happening. I think we might make a statement signing of a CB instead given Konsa‘s injury. Chambers is ready to step up. 

Tarkowski is a decent player but not convinced he is a class above Mings, or indeed if he’s actually better than Mings at all. There must be a quality centre half in Europe who wants to try their hand in the PL, we need to find our next Laursen, Melberg… someone who has potential to turn out to be a top PL defender who can elevate us into the top half. Tarkowski would be OK but would just cement the current quality we have rather than kicking on higher

1 hour ago, Pissflaps said:

The wages and signing on fees still come out the bottom line though

This is true but even if we are paying higher wages and crazy signing fees, if we're saving £50m on not buying Phillips or Bissouma then it's surely good business and gives us extra firepower to secure other targets

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

Sorry but he looked really  crap to me. Martinez could have stopped a couple of those in my opinion

Yeah he didn't save much and Martinez could have stopped one or two, at least given more of a presence for the opposition to think about anyway. But Martinez is first choice and Olsen second choice for a reason though, it's hard to judge back up keepers because if they were any good, they wouldn't be back ups. 

Exciting news based on all of the hype on here, but I haven't seen him play (and I assume most on here haven't either apart from maybe in once or twice). If he is genuinely a solid defensive midfielder who is comfortable on the ball then maybe he is the missing piece of the jigsaw 

I get tiredness, mental fatigue etc after playing so long against a side like City, but for that third goal he was just standing still whilst the ball dropped a couple of yards away from him - it's just poor for an elite professional footballer regardless of circumstances. Won't be surprised if he leaves in the summer so a great final contribution to his time here - although I will admit he did well for our first goal

36 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

His positioning is so bad 

The DMC role is about anticipation and intercepting breaking play up, he's never where he should be, City moving him around with ease 

This has always been the main problem with him in my eyes, even more than his clear lack of PL quality with the ball. When he came on today he did not help stiffen up our midfield at all which is the most basic minimum expectation when you bring on a defensive midfielder into a game. Not the only player who failed to turn up in the final 15 minutes to be fair but after months of ridiculous hype I think it's questionable whether he's actually good enough to even be a squad player for us. 

On 20/05/2022 at 17:35, Tom13 said:

He didn't scapegoat him in the slightest, and I'm sure that dropping did him good. Called good management.

Such good management he was sacked a week later

If Gerrard can get Buendia and Coutinho to build up a proper partnership then that has the potential to be a game changer for us. I know there are challenges due to their similarities, but they are both creative players and at this level of the game that is gold dust. Most centre forwards have similar conversion rates, Goals vs xG etc in the long run so the main variable is the quality and quantity of the chances created for them - and that's why these two players have to viewed as the answer. We've given plenty of opportunities for an Ings/Watkins partnership to develop so there should be no excuses why that same luxury cannot be applied to Buendia - the ceiling of a Buendia / Coutinho creative partnership surely has a far higher ceiling if it clicks than an Ings/Watkins strike partnership. 

The “official league table” since Gerrard took over might have us in X position, but to me we’ve been just as inconsistent as we were under Smith. Win a couple and then go 3, 4 or 5 without winning.
 

The 5 game run in March / April was very telling as we lost 4 in a row and drew one which included a few mediocre teams and some very poor performances- much like Smith’s final 5 games. Again, both streaks were preceded by some good results - 3 wins for Gerrard (including 2 high scoring games) and thrashing Everton and then beating Man U away for Smith. 
 

In terms of points per game, if Smith had one just one more win the PPG of both managers would be virtually the same which is indicative of just how inconsistent we have been under both managers and that the sample size of just 11 games under Smith is probably too small to extrapolate out to a comparison of a full season

Feels a bit like Bentancur in January. If it happens then great, but I’m not going to go overboard with it until it does actually happen 

Suarez as a squad option would make sense but I’d be worried that he’d come in and Gerrard would feel obligated to stick him in the side no matter what. I haven’t seen him since he moved to Atletico but many have commented he’s lost his pace, he’s only started 20 games this season, which indicates Atletico don’t view him as the same threat as a couple of years ago. Maybe he’d be a very good squad player but I’m not sure signing someone at that stage of their career is really going to push us on

2 hours ago, Rustibrooks said:

Would be a decent option to have, weirdly I never rated him when he was playing in the French league but he's been quite decent for Burnley

I think he just stands out because he’s the only flair player at Burnley. Think he’d look pretty average anywhere else