abdulaziz1

He is weird, some of his touches says he’s not even a professional player, but again some of his finishing and plays turns out to be perfect. I’m not talking about his nonsense shots as he’s trying to impress at any cost, but some blindly runs and bad touches. But to be fair even Watkins used to have those touches (well still does as well but improved). When you see him playing with his national team, and remember that he’s actually 1 or even 2 years younger than Archer, you’d still be hopeful about his ceiling. For me he’s either going to be up there with our best strikers (which isn’t a miracle achievement to be honest), or he’d fall apart. I’m hoping for the first one, we’ve invested a huge amount (considering his age and league he came from). Seems an Emery player as well.

Is he not allowed, or he doesn’t get counted as 1 of 4 young players that played for 2 years?

I just hope we don’t rush him back, hopefully nor even needing to. Some tough games coming up, better to manage him and Ramsey with a longer term view. Although that two were of the main reasons of our progress last season.

I haven’t read the forum for a while (part of being busy but mostly because of last result). Losing that way before an international break is really bad. But anyway, we’ve still lost games we expected to lose (not that way though). We know we can get back to track (happened last season twice, after Leicester..etc, then after Wolves and Utd). This season aftet Newcastle. The quality is much better, but expectations are higher. Emery is trying to force and implement his tactics more (last season he was more cautious). I’d still be cautious especially away from home and against top teams. We still need some time to get the right balance and to have our attacking left side back. Until then we have to keep pace and minimize the gap (as I kept saying last season). We should consider going into cup games with an intent of winning. Now that we’re in group stages, we shall focus as well on Carabao cup. Our run will be tough anyway, I’d take qualifying against Everton and having an easy draw (against non PL Team) while winning European matches. Winning against Palace, drawing against Chelsea and Brighton. If we can keep winning Carabao cup games without having tough draws, keeping pace in the league I think that would be perfect. If we got to the Carabao final and kept progressing in Europa, we could win the Carabao and guarantee another European trip (doing that while being still in Europa and FA Cup would be fantastic). That might make us prioritize cups while competing in the league but with less pressure. It would also loose pressure at both cups as we would have already won one which would help us mentally. We’re still from a final article, yet we’re showing some progress at easier games while regress at tough games.

He’s good as a backup but he doesn’t need to be a backup, he needs to start. Best move for all parties. Add to that, Duran is most backup for Watkins (plus with his age he could afford not to start regularly). As a goalscorer, no doubt Archer is the best of the 3.

I watched him in the preseason and he clearly was good, against Hibs he was great going forward. Happy for him to find a good move, hopefully he show that he can have a future here.

I thought he’s gone not sure why as he was linked somewhere earlier in the window.

Hope it’s not a bad one? He have a chance to show what he can do in the group stage. I guess there is a chance as well for him to feature and have some PL minutes.

Is Tim on loan or he didn’t go?

Great window, we’ve matured in terms of buying and selling as well. If we sold Coutinho as well I guess we’ve done a fantastic job. Still a January window were we could recheck our squad and needs. We might be able to sell Dinge (which is doing really well right now) if we can find a good/cheap/young replacement for him.

Dwight Gayle, although can’t say he’s rubbish.

Something strange with this guy, hois shots and crosses…etc are very good. Sometimes his first touch is ok but at times you feel the ball as a burden to him. There were two moments (one against Burnley) and now when he could’ve give it to Kellyman he made it hard for himself. Yet again because he moves strangely so can’t really say if he’s failing to keep the ball or is that he just looks not to. He has great attributes, one of the most encouraging things with Emery is that he knows what he wants from his players, Ings is more talented than Watkins, Archer than Duran. But he wants attributes that doesn’t only come with talent (well much room for Duran to improve). It’s not that Emery wants cloggers (such as some of our previous managers) but he wants the right balance. Anyway I think Duran has shown amazing attributes, I saw some people saying he looks like Benteke. Not really as Benteke use to keep the ball perfectly, Duran still look a bit panicked especially when he runs with it. He’s more of a Watkins I’d say (with a better finishing). I’m not sure what to write more, but if he can sort this thing I guess he might be starting for us earlier than we think, but that’s a big ask.

Martinez isn’t really far from Southgate, I’m not sure how are they still managing big national teams.

Hopefully he has his first start with us tonight.

Because they’re a well run club, earning big money and spending smartly. They have a system that would show anyone that he’s good. Fair play to them. We’re doing our way as well, and hopefully we’re much better and sustainable. But we can’t deny what they’re doing. They have money to spend as well.

To be hon I won’t play him at all against Hibs unless we needed. Just start Duran and make one of the kids features for some of the game.

He featured in all of our best games last season, Brentford, Newcastle (can’t be sure about Bournemouth). Even Man Utd he started.

A very good draw, could’ve been much worse. some other good draws as well, hopefully City are out of the way and we qualify and getting a lower league or a Luton draw.

Hopefully Port Vale or Exeter at home.

It’s around 7-8m a year, just pretend 3-4 is a fee. We can’t get a short term deals better than this. Well, we could but would require a huge work and Monchi just came.

Getting him as a backup is definitely a W, especially when you consider they we’re not paying fees. This guy, Tielemans and Zaniolo, both cost less than 5m, which we’ll get from Philogene himself only. Easy to sell, for Zaniolo if he success then we can buy him. I’m more than happy with that approach, more than happy with us not having a ridiculous net spend while progressing. The market is being tough, will only get tougher with the targets we want. We have to keep healthy ffp while improving.

I never had a proper look into his performances, didn’t know he actually played in Barca (and usually that’s something alarming rather than positive), but the whole deal is shrewd piece of business. As a backup we won’t find much better, no time to negotiate for younger with potential, so a loan for a ball play cb (from what I hear) is the best right now. Especially as a temporary replacement for Mings. We can address a younger one later on, which can be viewed as a longer term.

I hope it ends in success and we can cut some of the loss, some nice memories, one of the things is that I wanted him during Lambert days, I think 2012-13, we were linked to get him from Inter. Then waited 9-10 years for him to come. I was one of the few that wasn’t really expecting anything from this signing (probably the fear of his wages and him being a burden), didn’t like what Gerrard said about getting only experienced players, but the only part I liked is that we wanted him while ago and didn’t happen. Anyway it’s been a roller coaster, ended up perfectly so far, and the rest is history. Up The Villa.

We were linked to Zaniolo even before Diaby links. I don’t think he’s a replacement for anyone, he was one of our forward options. We pushed hard after Buendia injury, but we possibly plan to add one wether him or someone else. After Buendia we had to had him, then see if we can add another.

We’ll use Young, Kellyman…etc But does Kellyman consider as he has not been here for two years? I guess we’ll use the new player or two that came from Baggies as well. O’reilly if he didn’t go on loan. We still have a few to give chances and use, some with a view to develop for the team, other to raise their profile and prices.