Delphinho123

I watched Willock a few times last season and if Ramsey could add that goalscoring instinct to his game, I think he can be the better player.

He has all the attributes to be an excellent midfielder. He’s quick, will run all day, comfortable with the ball at his feet and he gets about the pitch. I think he could turn into a very good no.10 actually. Whether he will or not, time will tell. For now, I’d probably be starting him in a midfield 3 alongside McGinn and Luiz. I’d love to play Buendia as a 10 but not sure we have decent enough central midfielders to play the 2 behind him.

If our business is done, the club are either, a) Happy with a 10th-13th place finish. b) Woefully naive in thinking what we have will result in a push for Europe. I'd be much happier with option a). We almost ceased to exist 3 years ago so being a solid mid table side in the PL is fine by me for a while before an eventual push. Personally, and it won't be a surprise to anyone on here, I think our business has left us with huge imbalance throughout the squad.

I don’t think you can make a strong 3 with any combination of those 4 players. Certainly one strong enough to fight for a top 10 finish. Tin hat on!

This is what I would play tbh. Big decision to drop Ings but they must have known this when they signed him, right?

I don’t think we have the personnel to play anything other than a 4-3-3 and that will become even more apparent in our next few fixtures.

This is Aston Villa, mate. You take a knock and you’re done for 6 months.

I’m more of a TikTok kinda guy, ya know?

That's where I'm at. I think JWP likes to have someone in there alongside him to help with the defensive duties (Romeu) so perhaps Doucoure would be the wiser option. That's if we sign JWP which we probably won't!

Did you just refer to TheTrees in the 4th person?

Absolutely not. It wouldn't be a transfer window without a bit of flight tracking. I don't like to jump the gun on this one based on that information from TheTrees, but this one is as good as done.

I know, right.

I'm inclined to agree actually!

Thats fine, but you then have to be prepared to bench Ings or Watkins and Traore...?

I'm still of the opinion we should be going Nuclear with our transfer business this Summer. Good players play football good and whilst it's great to not tear up the playbook and replace a lot of players in the squad each window, the Grealish transfer changed this. I'd still be looking to sign at least 2 starting midfielders. 2 of Sarr/Doucoure/JWP perhaps? We have the perfect opportunity to put together a more balanced team that doesn't rely on one player but we've not taken advantage of that opportunity yet. We have a negative net spend and a poor midfield. Work needs to be done in this area almost exclusively. We don't have a single central midfielder capable of playing in a 2 man midfield and it affects everything. Smith clearly wants to play a 4-2-3-1 but he can't.

This, this and more this.

I think you're an overly positive person and I probably err on the side of negativity! I'm sure we'll have a few more run-in's this season

You don’t half have a knack for turning something I’ve said into making it sound like it’s all doom and gloom! In those previous years we had one of the best players in the world. We’ve progressed and improved because of this and spending a lot of money. I think we’ve done enough to stand still this season but not to improve much. Is that fair?

Got some last night as it goes..

And I can’t repeat enough that most people aren’t being negative because of 1 game. People are concerned that we’ve been poor in midfield for 2 years and it hasn’t been addressed. People are concerned that perhaps we have signed some good players but without a plan and they all tend to favour playing in the same position. The Watford game, I agree, is just one game. But surely it can’t be completely ignored? We were 3 nil down at one point to a side that has just been promoted and with a fan base who are positive they have no hope of survival. Like I say, my concerns are not based on the Watford game (albeit it’s a worry), they’re based on what I wrote in the second paragraph. I don’t think we’ve done enough to improve on our 11th place finish last year.

I do really like him. He always seems to be better when he comes on as a sub though is my only issue. I genuinely think a full season on loan in the championship would really help him. But, because we’ve neglected the central midfield area in this transfer window, I don’t actually think he can leave. May have done enough to start against Newcastle in a 4-3-3. Can’t see him starting in a 4-2-3-1.

It was a bit tongue in cheek tbh, mate. I won’t be judging him off one game! Hope he does well for us as he’s clearly got pedigree.

All perfectly reasonable concerns.

I’ll summarise. Ignore the Watford match. If you don’t, you’re stupid. Everything is great and also, I read books and you’re stupid.